"We hope that in the period of this year, the problem of cost at the port can count well," Luhut said.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that the government had successfully reduced the loading and unloading time of goods at ports (dwelling time), but logistics cost still remained high.
"The dwelling time has decreased; but honestly, we acknowledge that logistics costs are still a problem that we are trying to resolve," he said at the National Coordination Meeting in Sasana Kriya TMII, East Jakarta, on Thursday.
Luhut admitted that the government was trying to cut the costs at the ports.
"We hope that in the period of this year, the problem of cost at the port can count well," he added.
Luhut previously claimed that he wanted to save logistics costs in Indonesia.
The government is examining logistics costing components one by one to map details that can be trimmed. For example, the cost of Terminal Handling Charge is quite expensive.
On the same occasion, President Jokowi requested that "dwelling time" can be reduced again to two days from three days.
According to the president, all the targets set had been achieved. Hence, he was optimistic that the two-day target can also be achieved.
"Till now, it had been three days, and now, I ask for two days. We will not change unless we are forced to, while in fact, we can change, if we really want to. This is only a matter of intention, whether want desire change or not we," he revealed.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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