The loading and unloading equipment on a ship could load and unload only 8 to 12 containers per hour."Ambon, Maluku (ANTARA News) - Expansion of the Yos Soedarso seaport of Ambon has been delayed over financial problem, the state port operator PT Pelindo said.
"Work has been underway since 2011 and it was to be completed by the end of 2013 or early 2014," Harison Nanlohy, the human resource manager of the Ambon branch of PT Pelindo, said here on Wednesday.
The plan is to increase the length of the port quay by 110 meters to facilitate growing loading and unloading of containers in the port.
Harison said work had been slowed as the project is financed with state budget not by Pelindo.
The contractor and the project leader were also named by the Transport Ministry, he said, but it would be handed over upon completion to PT Pelindo
He said PT Pelindo already prepare one unit of container loading and unloading equipment to be placed in the quay, but the quay is still in the early process of construction.
He said the equipment has a high capacity which could handle loading or unloading of up to 30 containers in an hour.
"The loading and unloading equipment on a ship could load and unload only 8 to 12 containers per hour," he said.
He said extension of the quay is urgent as currently the number of containers unloaded in Ambon has reached 36,000 units a month.
He said Pelindo was worried if the government changed its minds and moved the project to other place outside Ambon.
There are three shipping companies operating container ships regularly visiting Ambon, he said.
The companies - PT.Tanto, Tampuran Mas and Merartus - visited Ambon three times a month with 400 containers every time each, he said.
(Uu.H-ASG/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
