Expensive Sea Cargo Costs, Kadin Encourages Airway Exports

ILLUSTRATION/BETWEEN

JAKARTA - The Industrial Chamber of Commerce (Kadin) is pushing for an alternative delivery of goods. One of them is by optimizing air transportation.

This is due to problems with shipping goods by sea. The obstacle in question is the high cost of shipping.

Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Transportation, Denon Prawiraatmadja, said that currently the problem experienced by entrepreneurs is that they are not used to optimally sending their goods by sea. This is because of the problem of ship space and the high cost of packing from the country.

"Therefore, at this time we encourage entrepreneurs to optimize air routes so that they can carry out their export activities. And we have held meetings with airline entrepreneurs, they are ready to help exporters," Denon said in a discussion on the Role of Air Transport in Supporting Indonesia's National Exports, quoted on Sunday. , October 10.

Not only that, he also explained from the data he had that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the shipping world and also ports, which resulted in disruption of human resources.

Denon said this condition also resulted in hampered services at the port. So that the number of ships is reduced and the turnover of ships and containers is reduced. This also has an impact on higher ocean freight.

Denon also said that from the discussions, his party would try to formulate what should be done in the current situation without disturbing the market mechanism. One of the alternatives that currently exporters can do is to send goods by air.

"The discussion was attended by representatives of airlines, from Garuda Indonesia, Lion Group, Air Asia, Sriwijaya Air and others. After we will try an audience with the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Budi Karya Sumadi to discuss and ask for his support," he said.

Denon hopes that the efforts made by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry will produce optimal results so that it can make it easier for exporters to carry out business activities.

So that it can have a positive impact on the Indonesian economy, which is currently starting to improve along with the decreasing number of the spread of COVID-19.

Previously, the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi emphasized that the government would continue to facilitate MSME players in order to expand their market share to global or export markets. Exports can be done by air.

Lutfi said that currently the tariff for shipping export goods by sea has increased 5 to 10 times from before, which was US$10,000 to US$20,000 per container. Therefore, Lutfi suggested that MSMEs could also maximize air services, which are currently still empty of passengers.

"Regarding the rising sea route export shipping rates, we propose to SMEs, especially SMEs that export small or light-sized products to switch from sea shipping to air routes. This is considering the decline in the number of airplane passengers which requires airlines to keep flying with cargo," said Lutfi.

Moreover, said Lutfi, the demand for exports of Indonesian products is now increasing due to the trade war between China and the United States.

"Currently Indonesia is flooded with requests for products to be exported abroad. This is an extraordinary opportunity to encourage national exports," he said.