"In total, there are currently 16 RTG units that are ready to carry out loading and unloading of goods at MNP," PT Pelindo IV Managing Director, Farid Padang, said in a press statement here Sunday.
He said that the six imported units of the RTG equipment would add to the 10 units of the existing ones. According to him, the six RTG units were purchased by the company using an investment budget of Rp90 billion.
The budget, he continued, was included in the capital expenditure or the company's capital expenditure. This year, the company prepared a total of Rp6.4 trillion.
Farid said, besides RTG, MNP already has a number of other tools, namely container crane (CC), two units of ship to shoe (STS) crane, two units of 45-ton reach stacker, one unit of 32-ton forklift, one unit of 7-ton forklift and 12 units of terminal tractor unit, which has earlier arrived at the end of December 2018.
In addition to building Makassar and South Sulawesi, Pelindo IV must also develop existing ports in Eastern Indonesia.
Because the task of Pelindo IV, he said, is not only to build MNP but also distribute goods from Makassar and Eastern Indonesia to ports on islands such as Papua, Maluku and others as well as to foreign countries through direct calls and direct exports.
MNP had previously been soft launched on November 2, 2018 and received an operating permit from the Ministry of Transportation on March 28, 2019.
"The additional six RTG units for MNP's first phase are already operating," Farid added.
Since the soft launch until now, the Makassar New Port has served more than 50 vessels. Indirectly, this encourages shipping companies and goods owners to also carry out their operational activities at the new port of Makassar.
With the operation of MNP, it is believed to have reduced the queue of ships at the Makassar Container Terminal, thus adding to the record of PT Pelindo IV as the fastest Dwelling Time port among the three other major ports in Indonesia, namely Tanjung Priok (Jakarta), Tanjung Perak (East Java) and Belawan (Medan, North Sumatra).
"All of these tools were brought in to accelerate productivity both in the field and at the pier. This shows the hard work of PT Pelindo IV in the framework of the success of the National Strategic Project, MNP," he explained.
Even as a form of strong commitment from the company, he continued, it is to show the people in Eastern Indonesia that a large port has been present.
Translator: M. Darwin/Eliswan Azly
Editor: Bambang Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
