KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, has stated that one of the topics discussed at the High Level Dialogue on the Cooperation Mechanism (HDCM) in Labuan Bajo was transportation.

Panjaitan expressed his desire for Indonesia to export directly to China, bypassing the need for transit at the Singapore Port. He emphasized the need for a port partner to facilitate direct exports.

The proposed partner is the Ningbo Zhousan Port in Zhejiang Province, China. Panjaitan hopes that the direct export route will be from the Kuala Tanjung Port in North Sumatra to the Ningbo Zhousan Port in Zhejiang Province, China.

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"This would allow Kuala Tanjung to directly export and send containers abroad, eliminating the need to be a feeder from Singapore. It's not about anything else, but we need to demonstrate our independence in the future," Panjaitan explained on Wednesday (24/4).

In a separate interview, Carmelita Hartoto, the Chairwoman of the Indonesian National Shipowners’ Association (INSA), stated that for liner operators anywhere, cargo volume is a criterion for calling at a port.

"Direct export to China is very possible. Currently, the majority of our export products are indeed to China. So the volume is quite large," Carmelita told Kontan.co.id.

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According to Carmelita, it would be illogical if the volume was too small for direct export to a final destination like Canada. It would certainly go through an International Hub like Singapore.

Regarding export ports, Carmelita believes it depends on which port is the export point. It could be the Kuala Tanjung Port, the Tanjung Priok Port, or the Batam Port, as recently done by MV SITC Hakata and SITC Inchon, owned by SITC Inc, from Batuampar Batam to Shekou China.

"Does this increase the competitiveness of the product? Logically, it should. It depends on how efficient our port costs are compared to going through a hub port," Carmelita explained.

Editor: Syamsul Azhar