During the period of 2015 -- 2020, Indonesia has achieved significant development of transportation infrastructure including the construction of 3,432 km of new roads; 1,851 km of toll roads; 1,027 km of new train lines; 27 new ports; and 15 new airports that have been operating.
Based on the trends released by World Economic Forum in 2010 -- 2019, the development of a country's GDP per capita is directly proportional to the performance of the country's infrastructure. Indonesia's average position in the competitiveness of transportation infrastructure at the global level is still at the bottom 50% of the total countries assessed. At this point, the infrastructure performance has not been able to support the national logistics performance.
91% of the transport mode share of goods/logistics transportation in Indonesia is dominated by road transportation (trucks), 8.3% followed by sea and air transportation, and 0.7% by rail transportation.
Empty back load is the impact of inequality in supply chain and logistics performance in western and eastern Indonesia. The trade imbalance in the western and eastern regions of Indonesia is caused by limited access at the node and its hinterland side, difficult access to port locations, lack of infrastructure and facilities for loading and unloading goods, as well as stagnant supply of local products for backloading. The sea highway (Tol Laut) has not been able to overcome this problem because it prioritizes the shipping process between nodes which is not followed by improvement in the performance of the node and its hinterland.
Towards a comprehensive national logistics performance, it is necessary to pay attention to progress in the aspects of regulation, IT-enabling, human resources, infrastructure, and sustainability.
The basic problems of logistics transportation are high costs, high travel time, and complicated administration. So, it is necessary to integrate the planning of facilities, operations, functions and standardization. In more detail, the issue of organizing goods transportation in Indonesia can be mentioned, among others:
- Regulations regarding weighbridges that should be related to the public interest are always ignored, there is a tendency of neglecting ODOL (Over Dimension Over Load)
- Local governments also cause costs to increase by issuing various permits and imposing various user fees
- In other countries, regulations regarding levies and illegal permits have been banned, for example in China and the EU
- Thugs exacerbate this situation and increase insecurity in the freight transport sector. Are police very persuasive?
- The application of road levies and payment of various forms of permits is not intended to improve the welfare of the people in general
- Indonesia's topography and poor road quality significantly increase vehicle operating costs for the trucking sector.
- The cost of transporting goods in Indonesia is USD 34 cents/km, higher than the Asian average of USD 22 cents/km
Marine Logistics Infrastructure Issues
As for each mode of transportation, there are still problems with the condition of port infrastructure in Indonesia, for example:
- There is not yet an international hub port, and the low productivity and capacity of existing large ports.
- Low integration of port management infrastructure and services.
Therefore, a sea transportation policy and strategy are needed by:
- Accelerate the development of multimode transportation
- Efforts to balance between nationally oriented transportation with local and regional orientation
- Build an integrated system and network
- Improve transportation safety and security
- Develop environmentally friendly transportation facilities and infrastructure
The Sea Toll Road (Tol Laut) is a government program involving several ministries/agencies (Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Trade, Local Governments and ship operators) to achieve sea connectivity effectively through ships that sail routinely and scheduled from west to east Indonesia with the goal of increasing smooth distribution and reducing disparities prices in disadvantaged, remote, outermost, and border areas in order to improve the welfare of the community.
The indicators of the success of the sea highway can be seen from the availability of basic and other important goods so that they can reduce price disparities in the sea toll destination areas, the logistics connectivity of goods so that they can reach 3TP (Outermost, Foremost, Remote, and Border) area, as well as the availability of scheduled and regular ships to be able to transport essential goods and connecting sea, land and air transportation mode to Hinterland Area.
The 2021 sea highway program provides 32 vessels and 14 state vessels to serve 32 routes and stop at 106 ports throughout Indonesia with a budget of 523 Billion rupiahs. The government provides subsidies in the form of ship operations, subsidies for containers and cargo. Meanwhile, pioneering sea transportation routes in 2021 will reach 519 transit ports and serve 13% of western Indonesia, 38% of central Indonesia, and 49% of eastern Indonesia. Until early 2020, the Ministry of Transportation has built 295 new ships to support the marine highway program.
Land Logistics Infrastructure Issues
Problems with the condition of the road network infrastructure in Indonesia:
- Limited capacity of national (non-toll) roads across economies (Trans Java and Sumatera), only 10% of freight transport uses inter-city toll roads.
- Inadequate technical conditions and supported by low discipline of road users, neglecting Rumaja (road benefit room) and Rumija (street property) disturbances.
- Limited logistic terminals as nodes for loading and unloading goods, especially in dense urban areas.
This has an effect on the problems of road transportation-based freight transportation in Indonesia:
- Delivery of small volume goods is running partially, not yet consolidated and coordinated across operators, burdening road transportation space
- More cargo terminals for truck fleet parking functions, because the general cargo conditions are still LCL and very ineffective
- The role of toll roads shortens travel time but increases operational costs
- The field phenomenon shows that only 10% of freight transport moves to inter-city toll roads
- ODOL as an effort to maximize efficiency in terms of transporting goods without being balanced with the readiness of road infrastructure capacity in the regions
The government has compiled guidelines for road transportation-based freight rates listed in Minister Decree No. 60/2019 concerning the Implementation of Goods Transport by Motorized Vehicles on the Road. However, logistics costs are still expensive, indicating the weakness of intermodal transportation. The components of logistics costs include:
1. Shipping Document Administration Fee:
- Customs and Excises
- Tax
- Packing list
- Insurance and Security
2. Handling and Inventory Fees:
- Ship Services at the port (Anchoring, Mooring, Scouting and Tug)
- Wharfage
- Handling (container transfer)
- Loading and unloading
- Stockpiling and warehousing
- Haulage (lifting of containers to ships)
- Demurrage (delay in loading and unloading)
- Container Rental
- Repair Container
- Equipment Rental Services (Fork lift, Container Crane, Rubber Tyred Gantry)
3. Transportation Fee:
- BBM (producer - port - shipping - port - consumer)
- Ship Crew and Truck/Train drivers
- Ship and Truck/Rail operations
- Tariffs in and out of ports (land and sea)
Railway Logistics Infrastructure Issues
Problems with the condition of the railway network infrastructure in Indonesia:
- The use of a narrow railroad (1,067 mm) does not provide maximum transportation performance achievement (limited carrying capacity and speed, high travel time)
- The double track function is less than optimal, while the existing single track is already old.
- The rail network is not yet connected with important inter-island distribution nodes (ports, airports), while there are limited mechanical loading and unloading facilities at stations.
Therefore, the Ministry of Transportation issued a policy in the form of:
- Connectivity and development of rail transportation service networks that connect natural resource areas or production/industrial areas directly with ports, dry ports, and so on
- Development of railway infrastructure and facilities to be able to meet the needs of optimal carrying capacity for distribution of mining products or other natural resources (axle loads, etc.)
- Increasing the capacity of the railway network through the construction of double track and improvement of operating facilities
- Provision of goods transport handling facilities at stations/dry ports/ports
- Integration of services, tariffs and documents for freight trains
Air Logistics Infrastructure Issues
The problem with the condition of airport infrastructure in Indonesia is that the integration of infrastructure networks, services and airport services has not been optimal with other modes including railways and ports.
Action plan for the air transportation subsector through the Implementation of the National Air Transport Single Submission System in March 2023. Until the target of December 2022, the implementation of the Air SSm piloting system is carried out by:
- Implement a follow-up plan based on the results of the Fit and Gap Analysis
- Prepare the necessary infrastructure and systems
- Socialization and System Implementation
- Re-Launch Airportnet at Soekarno-Hatta Airport
- Piloting the Air SSm System
To expedite the distribution of basic goods in the 3TP area, ensure the availability of goods, reduce price disparities, increase the added value of local products, as well as provide services to low-income communities, the government provides regionally oriented freight transport subsidies that reach pioneering transport movements, stabilizers for certain areas with lower tariffs, post-natural disaster recovery, reaching undeveloped areas where there are no goods transportation services, border areas with socio-political considerations, also reaching people with low purchasing power.
Source: Prof. Dr. Ir. Agus Taufik Mulyono, MT., IPU., ASEAN Eng 2018-2020, BAPPENAS 2018, IPC 2020, KEMENHUB 2020-2021
