Dwelling time remains on Indonesian President’s agenda at Priok terminal opening

Local media cited him expressing outrage at long dwell times at the country's ports and reiterated his expectation of faster cargo handling to cut it down to 2.2 to 2.5 days from the current 3.2 to seven days.

Dwell time at Indonesia's main sea gateway, Tanjung Priok Port, is 3.2 to 3.7 days, while at North Sumatra’s Belawan Port and East Java’s Tanjung Perak it is double that, taking six to seven days.

"Dwell time in Priok was six to seven days two years ago; today its only 3.2 days. I want 2.2 to 2.5 days. It must be improved. And not only at Tanjung Priok but also at Surabaya, Belawan and Makassar," Widodo said at the opening of NPCT 1, which will add 1.5m teu in capacity to Tanjung Priok's current 7m teu capacity.

He went on to say the long dwell time at Tanjung Perak and Belawan was due to extortion during unloading, and only one of eight cranes at Belawan port was operating. He urged the police to investigate any possible wrongdoing in the ports.

"I shall order the police chief to [investigate] Tanjung Perak and Belawan. If it [Tanjung Priok] can score 3.2 days here, they should be able to do so there," Widodo said.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi added that the long dwell time was due to inconsistencies in the administrative process between the port authority and operators.

NPCT 1 is operated by Indonesian state-owned port operator Pelindo II in a consortium with Singapore's PSA International and Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co.