Jakarta. Batam’s Batu Ampar port recently launched its first direct shipment to China, thus potentially slashing logistic costs.

Direct shipment means that the containers are directly shipped from a domestic port to a destination port abroad without stopping at any other ports. Thus, containers of imported/exported goods do not need to go through Singapore but go directly to China. Operating this direct shipment is Shandong International Transportation Corporation (SITC) China.  In this maiden direct shipment, SITC China operates the MV SITC Hakata ship.

According to BP Batam’s head Muhammad Rudi, the direct shipment marks a momentum for the city to develop other routes.

"It's not how many ships are going to China today, but our job is how we prepare goods to be sent there and other areas. If there are more goods, there will be more lines to other areas," Rudi was quoted as saying in a recent press statement.

BP Batam is hoping that other local companies will take advantage of this direct shipping to China as it helps slash logistic costs. Rudi also told PT Persero Batam to simplify all the processes at the port. 

“If both the goods and the shipping are there [in Batam], coupled with simplified services, people will see Batam as a place to send goods. We will be able to achieve 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units [TEUS] per year,” Rudi said.

PT Persero Batam’s director Arham S Torik said the direct shipping to China would take place regularly once a week. In the first phase, the MV SITC Hakata ship carries 168 containers from China to Batam. It will also see the shipment of 100 containers belonging to Eco Green from Batam to China.

"Hopefully, it will get even bigger because the capacity of this ship is 1,000 TEUS, which can accommodate 1,000 20-foot containers," he said while revealing that four to five companies would begin exporting their goods to China via the port’s direct shipping.

"We hope that every week it will increase to full capacity and will increase the load. The direct shipment will help reduce $600 per TEUS in logistic costs as there would be no need for transshipment in Singapore,” he said.