On Sunday, Indonesia's prime minister inaugurated the new
port of Patimban, one of the largest seaports in the country. It opened this
weekend for limited operations with a shipment of 140 new cars bound for
Brunei.
The $3 billion facility in West Java was partially funded
with $1.2 billion in backing from the government of Japan. At least 10
different automakers - including several Japanese brands - have plants located
near the seaport, and the development will help to lower their shipping costs.
Patimban is only 85 miles to the east of Jakarta and its
port of Tanjung Priok. The existing port suffers from congestion and has
limited room for expansion, and the new site will help to reduce its traffic
load, a 2017 study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
concluded. According to JICA, the overloaded facilities at Tanjung Priok raise
costs for Indonesian manufacturing, reducing the incentives for foreign
investors to expand or open new operations in West Java. Other alleged issues
at the existing port include high rates for container storage, cargo theft and
arbitrary customs procedures.
JICA's study predicts that at full build out, Patimban will
be able to handle as much as two-thirds of the automotive cargo and about a
third of the containerized freight for the region just east of Jakarta. The
900-acre site will have container storage space for 250,000 TEU and parking for
220,000 new cars, and it has an additional 900 acres in reserve for future
expansion. Completion is scheduled for 2027.
"Amid the pandemic, one of the national strategic
projects, Patimban, has been completed,” said Indonesian President Joko Widodo
in an address Sunday. “With its strategic location, I am sure that Patimban
will be key in connecting different sectors, from industrial manufacturing to
agriculture, and increasing exports.”