"The Makassar New Port also stands as the second-largest port in Indonesia after Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta,"
Makassar (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), on Thursday, commended Makassar New Port in South Sulawesi Province as a port with the deepest waters in Indonesia, with a water depth of 16 meters.

"The Makassar New Port also stands as the second-largest port in Indonesia after Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta," he remarked during the inauguration of docks 1B and 1C of the port in Makassar City.

According to Jokowi, the deep waters of the large port are ideal for loading and unloading activities of containers.

The president remarked that the Makassar New Port, as one of the National Strategic Projects, offers a higher level of connectivity among ports in Indonesia's eastern regions, noting that the port also lowers logistics costs.

The head of state then highlighted that since the inauguration of dock 1A in 2018, the dwelling time of ships at the port had decreased to an average of below three days, from 5-7 days during the time when the port was known as the Makassar Container Terminal.

He further noted that the operation of docks 1A, 1B, and 1C would enable the port to accommodate a total of 2.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, a significant increase as compared to the previous capacity of 750 thousand TEUs.

Jokowi then lauded the merger of state-run port operators Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) I, II, III, and IV, noting that the consolidation of the operators had elevated the level of integration of Indonesian ports.

The president noted that by integrating its port systems, Indonesia had managed to suppress its national logistics costs, from 24 percent to around 14 percent of the country's value of gross domestic product (GDP).

However, he pointed out that the figure still lagged behind those of several countries whose logistics costs only account for 9-12 percent of their GDP.

"Our percentage is still above those of other countries. Hence, it is our shared responsibility to further lower the costs," he stressed.

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Translator: Suriani M, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Arie Novarina
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