State-owned port operator Pelabuhan Indonesia III (Pelindo III) is under pressure to reduce dwelling times for ships at Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java, from eight to four days ahead of the 2015 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) summit.
Pelindo III spokesman Edi Priyanto said long dwelling times, the time it takes to load and unload freight at the port, were due to a shortage of Customs officials to handle the constant flow of ships in and out of the port.
"There are only 38 active Customs-clearance personnel working at the port daily and they're only available during office hours, despite the round-the-clock flow of goods into the port," he told The Jakarta Post.
The number of containers that arrived at the port amounted to 2.5 million, including 1.2 million from overseas, in 2013. The total figure is equivalent to 2.9 million TEUs.
Edi insisted that the port Customs office should increase its staff and divide them into 24-hour shifts so that containers could be processed faster.
"The port's payment system can be done online and can be carried out 24 hours a day, but if there are no clearance officers to examine the containers, the goods cannot be removed," he said.
Pelindo III has purchased new cranes and trucks and is to officially begin operations at a new port in Teluk Lamong in July, to ease traffic at Tanjung Perak.
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