The Role of Logistics and Sea Toll Road in Making Fuel Price Low in Papua

Transportation has a vital role in delivering daily necessities especially to remote areas, as shown by the fuel price in Papua. In the easternmost provinc
Transportation has a vital role
in delivering daily necessities especially to remote areas, as shown by the
fuel price in Papua.
In the easternmost province of
Indonesia, as quoted from "Kompas.com", one liter of fuel is priced
at Rp60,000 to Rp100,000 at some remote regencies, much higher than the Rp6,450
per liter price tag on Java Island.
The government aims to reduce
fuel price in Papua by operating Pertamina’s dedicated transport aircraft that’s
worth Rp800 billion. The aircraft has made it possible for fuel to be
distributed via air transportation, alongside land, and water transportation.
The aircraft's Rp800 billion
price tag would not make Pertamina suffer a loss, said President Jokowi.
"This year, I am projecting
that we will reap more than Rp40 trillion profit instead," said the
president in Jakarta as quoted from "Kompas.com" on Wednesday,
December 21, 2016.
Logistics costs could be lowered
if sea toll road construction can be completed in 2019, as sea vessels and land
vehicles can distribute goods in a large capacity.
What is sea toll
road?
Sea toll road is the established route
in which big vessels sail, connecting major ports in Indonesia. These ships
will sail their own route, which spans from Sumatra to Papua.
Shipping routes and determined
location points will make freight transportsimilar with cars passing through
toll roads.
Ships will not be empty after
unloading cargo. Transportation Minister Budi KaryaSumadi has promised to
encourage agricultural business owners in Eastern Indonesia to increase their
productivity.
"We are trying to push
agricultural business from Eastern Indonesia to produce goods to be sold in Western
Indonesia," said Budi Karya as quoted from "Kompas.com" at Hotel
Indonesian Kempinski Ballroom, Jakarta, Wednesday (November 9, 2016).
According to Transportation
Ministry, as many as 24 ports will be involved in the sea toll road project.
Five ports will be designed as hubs, namely Port of Belawan/Kuala Tanjung, Port
of TanjungPriok/Kalibaru, Port of Tanjung Perak, Port of Makassar, and Port of
Bitung.
Moreover, other 19 ports will
function as feeders to hub ports, such as Port of Malahayati, Batam, Jambi
(TalangDuku), Palembang, Panjang, TelukBayur, TanjungEmas, Pontianak, Banjarmasin,
Sampit, Balikpapan/Kanangau, Samarinda/Palaran, Tanau/Kupang, Pantoloan,
Ternate, Kendari, Sorong, Ambon, dan Jayapura.
Three categories of vessels will
be operated. The first category is vessels with 15,000 to 40,000 deadweight
tonnage (DWT) and 1,000 to 3,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) cargo capacity.
The second category is pioneer
ships with 208 TEU capacity, while the third one is passenger ships.
From 2015 to 2019, about 46 ships
of 1,000 TEU capacity are set to be operated, as well as 37 ships of 3,000 TEU
capacity and 26 pioneer ships. In addition, there will be 500 passenger ships
by 2019.
These efforts to improve
logistics will not only lower fuel price in Papua to the same level as fuel
price in the island Java, but also other commodity prices in numerous areas.
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