"Reliable transportation services have become a demand in the face of global competition. Indonesia, as one of the largest countries in the world, is currently facing challenges in arranging transportation, especially freight transport," he said in a statement received on Tuesday.
Serious efforts are needed from all stakeholders to improve the level of safety and performance of goods transportation in the country, he added.
"We experience problems in freight transportation, such as over-dimension overload (ODOL), high accident and crime rates, congestion, economic losses, travel efficiency, and others. These are our shared responsibilities," he said.
He explained that one of the causes of inefficiency in the performance of goods transportation in Indonesia is the domination of land transportation.
Based on data recorded by Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in 2019, freight transportation in Indonesia was dominated by land transportation with a share of 87.57 percent, followed by sea transportation (12.16 percent) and rail transportation (0.26 percent).
Sumadi said that the domination of land transportation has caused a number of problems, such as a high number of accidents, congestion, ODOL, damage to road infrastructure, and air pollution.
To tackle this problem, the ministry's Directorate General of Land Transportation has prepared a number of strategies, including requiring the implementation of a public transport company safety management system (SMKPAU), specifically for freight transportation, he said.
The ministry is encouraging multimodal integration to reduce road loads in goods transportation and subsidizing pioneering freight transport through the Land Transportation Management Agency (BPTD) to support the sea highway program.
It is also supporting the development of a licensing system and application for the Land Transport and Multimodal Online Licensing System (SPIONAM V.2), improving the facilities for weighing motorized vehicles, and compiling technical specifications for efficient goods vehicles.
Other efforts that have been made include monitoring and enforcing the ODOL law through speeding tickets, transferring cargo, and vehicle normalization, he added.
These have been followed by the implementation of the requirement to show proof of passing motorized vehicle electronic tests, encouragement of the implementation of safety management systems for public transport companies, and the building of partnerships to improve safety aspects, he informed.
Related news: Ministry to open cross-border freight transportation Kupang-Dili
Related news: Overloaded trucks causing damage to roads, accidents: minister
Translator: Benardy Ferdiansyah, Resinta S
Editor: Anton Santoso
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
