Indonesia to Establish More Short Sea Shipping Routes in ASEAN

• May 04, 2017

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The government will establish more short sea shipping routes by roll on roll off (ro-ro) ships in ASEAN. Having successfully launched a shipping route between Davao (Philippines) and Bitung (North Sulawesi) on Sunday, the government will cooperate with Malaysia. “After this, we will open a ro-ro shipping route between Dumai [Riau Islands] and Malaysia,” Transportation Ministry official Tonny Boediono told Tempo yesterday.

The first ro-ro ship in Davao-Bitung route arrived Tuesday in Samudra port in Bitung, North Sulawesi. The service was made possible thanks to an agreement between Indonesia and the Philippines to improve bilateral trade relations.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Philippine’s Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday in Davao launched the service of Super Shuttle Roro 12 ship, which is operated by Asian Marine Transport Corporation (AMTC) with a capacity of 500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). “The travel time between Davao and Bitung is now two and a half day by this ro-ro,” Jokowi said.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said that he will establish more ro-ro shipping routes. “In order to support ASEAN’s connectivity,” Budi said. Meanwhile, ro-ro shipping service between Davao and Bitung is scheduled to run once a week.

Before the launch of ro-ro shipping route between Davao and Bitung, ships from Davao would sail westbound to Java before heading to Bitung. The travel time was five-week long. The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution believes that the new route will improve trade relations between Indonesia and the Philippines.

Copra and maize make up the majority of commodities being traded between Davao and Bitung. Darmin is confident that the new shipping route will pave the way for other commodities. “Maybe textiles and garments,” Darmin said.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said that the ro-ro shipping route between Davao and Bitung was established following the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) Summit which was held on the sidelines of the 30th ASEAN Summit last week. The BIMP-EAGA Summit produced the BIMP-EAGA Vision (BEV) 2025. The documents will become the guidelines for BIMP-EAGA cooperation until 2025. The BEV 2025 launch was aimed at boosting investment in the existing economic corridors: the West Borneo corridor and Greater Sulu-Sulawesi Economic Corridor.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2017/05/04/056872054/Indonesia-to-Establish-More-Short-Sea-Shipping-Routes-in-ASEAN