Dominated By Coal, KAI Transports 32.8 Million Tons Of Goods In Semester I 2024

Photo illustration. (Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) recorded that it had transported 32,872,889 tons of goods in the first semester of 2024. This figure increased 7 percent compared to the first semester of 2023 of 30,726,894 tons of goods.

The growth in freight transport is supported by the addition of travel and route frequencies, as well as the addition of carriages in one series. This is the impact of the increasing demand for customers for goods transportation by train, "KAI VP Public Relations Anne Purba, Saturday 13 July.

Anne detailed that KAI's goods transportation in Semester I 2024 was dominated by coal commodities amounting to 26,278,697 tons or 80 percent of the total KAI goods transportation. KAI's coal transportation is concentrated in the southern part of Sumatra to support the national energy supply.

As for almost all commodities, both coal and non-coal show a positive trend where growth ranges from 5 percent to 71 percent.

In terms of timeliness of departure or arrival of goods trains, there has also been an increase in performance. In Semester I 2024, the timeliness rate for goods train departures reached 94.04 percent, an increase compared to Semester I 2023, which was 92.31 percent.

The timeliness rate for the arrival of goods trains in Semester I 2024 reached 89.67 percent, an increase compared to Semester I 2023, which was 86.88 percent.

The improvement in the timeliness of this train is achieved through improving the quality of overall operational performance, including maintenance of facilities and infrastructure. Time coincidence is one of the advantages of train transportation that is congested free, so that customers, including commodity entrepreneurs, are in demand," said Anne.

Anne said KAI serves various goods transportation commodities such as containers, coal, cement, fuel, CPO, fertilizers, retail, and others. Freight transportation using trains has various advantages such as timeliness, security, large capacities, free of illegal levies, and managed by professional human resources.

The advantage of trains is that the capacity is very large. One carriage can carry 50 tons or the size of 2 container trucks. In fact, a series of coal transport trains in southern Sumatra can pull 60 carriages or 3,000 tons at once. If the truck is transported, it will need approximately 120 trucks.

KAI's goods transportation is here to support competitive logistics costs and reduce the impact of externalities such as congestion, pollution, damaged roads, and increasing global competitiveness," concluded Anne.