Public Hopes for Improvements to Maritime Highway Program

KOMPAS/KRISTIAN OKA PRASETYADI

Nusantara Belt Ship 70, bearing the Tol Laut (sea toll) logo, docks on Wednesday (08/01/2020) at Tahuna Harbor the Sangihe Islands, North Sulawesi. The cargo ferry serves many destinations in the Nusa Utara archipelago comprising the regencies of Siau Tagulandang Biaro Islands, the Sangihe Islands, and the Talaud Islands, as well as ferries goods from the Logistik Nusantara 1 vessel that serves the Surabaya-Makassar-Tahuna sea toll route.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS —The maritime highway program initiated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the end of 2014 has not yet effectively reduced price disparities in a number of regions as expected. The realization of the government\'s commitment to evaluate and improve the program is awaited by the public.

According to a survey conducted by Kompas Research and Development on 29 Feb-1 March, 2020, involving 544 respondents in 30 districts / cities, education about the so-called “sea toll road” program is still needed. A total of 51.84 percent of the respondents said they were aware of the sea highway program, while other 47.98 percent said they did not know about it.

Even though the maritime highway program is not yet optimal, the majority of respondents believe that this program can support economic activities in the border areas or remote and isolated regions in the country. A total of 79.41 percent of the respondents said that the sea toll road program could support the economy. Only 8.46 percent said it could not and 11.58 percent answered they did not know.

According to data in a number of areas passed by the sea toll road, the program is still unable to significantly cut high logistics costs. In fact, in areas such as Biak Numfor regency, Papua, the sea toll road program has been stopped since November 2018.

Hendra Loa, 40, a trader in Biak Numfor who often uses the sea toll road services, revealed that the maritime highway program only reduced the price of basic goods such as rice and sugar by Rp 1,000 and Rp 3,000. The sea toll road has brought no significant impact because the shipping cost is not much different from that of non-sea toll road transportation. Due to uncertainties over shipping schedules and limited transport capacity, traders such as Hendra are still reluctant about using the sea toll road services.

"For traders, sailing time and the loading capacity are crucial. I prefer non-toll sea transportation because it is faster and the loading capacity reaches up to 25 tons," Hendra said last week.

KOMPAS/SAIFUL RIJAL YUNUS

La Haciru, 71, stops by on his way home from the farm on Thursday (5/3/2020) at the driveway of the Maritime Outlet building in Wangi-Wangi, Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi. The Maritime Outlet, which cost Rp 2 billion to build, is neglected and non-operational, much like the grim fate of the government’s flagship maritime highway, which has been beset by many problems

The head of sea traffic and port activities of the port authority in Biak Numfor, Pieter Rumbino, said that the sea toll road in Biak had not been used since last year. "The government stopped the sea toll program in Biak because residents did not really feel the impact of this program," said Pieter.

On Miangas Island, Talaud Islands regency, North Sulawesi, container ships did not stop at the Miangas Port because none of the traders were able to use the facilities. As a result, the prices of essential goods remained high. Miangas, the northernmost island of Indonesia, is part of the T-5 route network of the sea toll road service that has been connected to Bitung since 2019.

The head of the economic bureau of the local government of Talaud Islands, Nus Esing, said that the sea toll road service had not reached Miangas. During 2019, the ship\'s schedule was still uncertain so services for Miangas were not optimal. This also hampered the delivery of non-cash food aid (rice) from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

Nus Esing also mentioned the uncertain schedule was a reason why a community of sea toll users had not yet formed. "Besides, container rental prices are very high. Therefore, the commodities from Miangas cannot be shipped under the sea toll road program," he said.

Disappointment

Based on monitoring in some parts of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and Maluku in the past week, the prices of basic necessities were also still very high. "Prices have never gone down," said Hasna, 55, a trader who for decades sold basic commodities at the Larantuka Market, East Flores regency, NTT.

The vice regent of East Flores, Agustinus Payong Boli, said that the sea highway program was actually so ideal but the benefits were not felt yet by the residents. He said that the sea toll only benefited users, especially distributors. They received subsidies from the government to reduce shipping costs so that they could lower the prices of goods. However, the prices of goods remained high.

I agree that the maritime highway program is still unable to reduce prices.

The head of the sub-directorate of domestic transportation at the sea transportation directorate of the Transportation Ministry, Budi Mantoro, acknowledged that lowering the prices of goods in the area served under the sea toll road program was still challenging. "I agree that the maritime highway program is still unable to reduce prices," he said.

According to him, in an area with a minimal number of entrepreneurs, there is a space to conduct a monopoly on the transportation of goods. In addition to asking ship operators to appoint people with integrity in the process of validating and approving cargo quotas, the Transportation Ministry also invites all stakeholders to oversee the implementation of the sea toll road program such as in determining quotas and selling prices on the market. In 2020, the Transportation Ministry established 26 sea toll routes with subsidies of up to Rp 439.83 billion. Last year there were 18 sea toll routes with a subsidy of Rp 264.28 billion.

KOMPAS/ADITYA PUTRA PERDANA

The maritime highway’s Kendhaga Nusantara 12 container ship sets sail on Sunday (8/3/2020) from Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta. At a limited meeting last Thursday (5/3/2020) President Joko Widodo expressed his disappointment over the government’s flagship maritime highway toll program, which had not helped to cut interregional shipping costs.

On Thursday (5/3), the President chaired a limited Cabinet meeting to evaluate the implementation of the maritime highway program and the acceleration of the program. The President instructed that the program be assessed in detail and comprehensively. The President hoped that the sea toll road services could be improved and further connected to industrial estates and local economic centers.

Previously, the government announced its plan to open 28 flight routes to support the implementation of the maritime highway program to remote areas. The new flight routes that will be operated this year would serve areas in North Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and Papua. (FLO /OKA/ JAL/FRN /INA /HEN)