I took the assignment of President Director of IPC three years ago after having left the company in 1990. The government invited me back to run the office and at the time I recognised that profit was needed but also that we had a key role to play in reducing logistics costs in Indonesia.

In Indonesia we have Pelindo I, II, III and IV so I wanted to differentiate this company from the others. We rebranded ourselves and took a new logo which illustrated energy and dynamism. Our tagline is ‘Energizing trade, Energizing Indonesia’ and this is really our core purpose.

The main problem in Indonesia is the productivity and efficiency level of the human resources. At Tanjung Priok in 2008, the port was handling 3.9 million TEUs, this has increased to 7.2 million TEUs in 2012 which is almost double. I have not yet built new terminals; this was achieved purely through increased productivity.

Many people believe that when you talk about infrastructure you need to build something new and this can take years. However what I call ‘soft infrastructure’ can be done immediately. For example, customs clearance in Indonesia currently takes 6 days to complete all the necessary import procedures whereas in many other places in the world it is only 3 days. That means that Indonesian based manufacturers have to add 3 days to their inventory time. However by reducing the amount of time that customs clearance takes to 3 days; I am able to double the capacity of the port.

Tracking and tracing is another area needed to improve the country’s logistics organisation. In logistics and ports in 2010, Indonesia ranked 75th in the world but this year (2012) we have gone up by 16 places to number 59 (World Bank Logistics Performance Index 2012). Customs however have moved from 72nd place to 74th so even while they are making efforts to improve, other countries are improving faster. For infrastructure, Indonesia’s standing has decreased from 68th to 92nd place but for ease of arranging shipments, speed etc. the country has improved a lot from 80th place to in the 40s. These improvements are taking place here at Pelindo II as we handle the majority of Indonesia’s shipping cargo.

Given Indonesia’s economic growth of over 6% in 2012, we have to reduce the congestion at the main ports to maintain growth and keep pace with it. From 2000-2008 container growth was only 5.8% ACGR while the economy grew more than 6% so this was not sufficient; there should be at least an 18% growth in containers. As a result of our reorganisation, productivity has increased by 25% from 2010 to 2011 and in 2012 it will go up by 36% which is all due to soft infrastructure improvements.

The New Priok project will increase capacity from 7.2 million TEUs to 30 million TEUs and by 9 million cubic metres for oil products. This is a $4 billion USD [in investment] project which is moving ahead swiftly. After submitting the plan to the President in 2010, the project is now going ahead after only two years which shows that despite bureaucracy, Indonesia can make headway on key infrastructure projects if they are managed effectively.

We have already sent 63 people overseas to study abroad and in 2012 we sent another 41 people. This is because our customers are global and they need be served by people that do not have a local mindset only but by those with an international outlook. We want users of the port to feel how they do when they are in Rotterdam or Shanghai; the same atmosphere, productivity level and efficiency.

Human capacity development will be our main focus for the future. During this next 3 years we will spend $50 million USD on human capacity development and education.

We are going to build the main sea corridor from the East to the West of Indonesia. We will provide ports in those locations with the capacity for handling 30,000 TEUs to create a pendulum across Indonesia with loops in the key hubs. This is an idea that IPC very much supports. I am now helping the government in other related areas such as the customs and immigration to develop their capacity in terms of IT and people as improvement in these areas directly benefits our company.

At the New Priok Phase I development we will have 3 new container terminals which will be built using our own financial resources. For operations we will invite international partners to join us such as Maersk Line from Europe which is already confirmed. Now we are inviting a second partner which should be a Chinese company and then the third will be from Japan in order to cover Indonesia’s main trading partners. The first of these new terminals will be ready from 2014 and the project will be fully completed by 2023.

I am only looking to work with partners which have expertise to offer as opposed to funds. Technology in order to serve large ships in Indonesia is what we really need here as larger ships will help reduce logistics costs.

The main sea corridor is designed to boost inter island trade and also inter ASEAN trade. Right now we have to improve a lot to be competitive in the region. Information Technology in the logistics sector is really the key to greater efficiency; we have a joint venture with Telkom to create the Indonesian Logistics Community System which will be in place in early 2013. It will provide an integrated online logistics platform which will expedite port related document processing and other operations.

Please come to Indonesia; the market offers many opportunities which you cannot find in other countries. We have 130 million middle class people and plenty of natural resources. Therefore come to Indonesia and invest as the country has so many more opportunities to tap into for the future.