After the issuance of the new regulation, on Saturday, the government released 13 containers in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta, and 17 containers in Tanjung Perak, Surabaya, to be further distributed to importers.
"From 13 containers in Tanjung Priok, five containers have two Goods Import Notification (PIB) documents and eight containers require a domestic survey report (LS)," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated in a press conference held at the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT), Tanjung Priok, Saturday.
The minister ensured that her side will monitor the progress in the release of other containers to prevent any issue from occurring during that time.
Indrawati highlighted that 17,304 containers were still stuck in Tanjung Priok along with 9,111 other containers stacking up at Tanjung Perak since the issuance of Trade Minister's Regulation Number 36 of 2023 on the restriction on imported goods.
"The release of those containers used to necessitate various requirements, including technical considerations from other related agencies," she explained.
According to the minister, the detention of the containers hampered economic activities, including the manufacturing industry, due to the restricted supply of raw materials.
She stated that the containers mostly contain steel, textiles, chemicals, electronics, and other commodities.
Hence, her side welcomed the change from Minister of Trade Regulation Number 36 of 2024 to Minister of Trade Regulation Number 8 of 2024, thereby simplifying the process of container release requirements.
"The Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC) of the Finance Ministry welcomes the change in the ministerial regulation that simplifies the process for releasing containers by changing the requirements to only surveyor reports," she stated.
On the same occasion, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto remarked that goods stacked up since March 10 could be released immediately according to the new regulation.
"We hope the (issue of) 17 thousand containers piled up can be resolved immediately," he affirmed.
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Translator: Sinta Ambarwati, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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