The waiting period for containers at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, is now shorter by 1.3 days compared to just a few months ago due to improved Customs efficiency, according to the head of the Tanjung Priok Port Authority.
Bay Hasani said recently that as of November 2015, dwell time for containers at the port stood at 4.29 days, an improvement from the previous monthly average of 5.59 days as of June. The new waiting time is also better than the national average of 4.7 days per month, also as of June, reported Antara News.
Bay said the reduction in waiting time was due to the enhanced efficiency of pre-custom clearance, custom clearance, and post-custom clearance processes.
Pre-custom clearance now takes 2.3 days, down from 2.7 days previously; custom clearance has been reduced from 0.5 days to 0.47 days, and post-custom clearance is now completed in 1.5 to 1.45 days.
Bay said the biggest improvement in efficiency is in the pre-custom clearance process, where dwell time has been trimmed by 60% to 70%.
He explained that as part of efforts to shave off waiting time, support facilities were set up to alleviate bottlenecks in export and import licensing procedures.
In addition, regulations were revised to expedite removal of overdue stacked goods at the port to just within three days, down from seven days earlier.
Further initiatives to slash waiting time include a plan to build an integrated IT-based monitoring system for tracing the movement of ships and goods at the port.
Franky Sibarani, head of the Capital Investment Coordinating Board, said the country is on track to achieve the government target of reducing dwelling time by December 2015. This, he said, will be further reinforced by the introduction early this week of a green lane facility for investors.
Green lane launched
The Directorate General of Customs and Excise is offering the green lane to investors that are entering the construction phase of their projects in a move to boost economic development.
The green lane facility aims to facilitate importation of machinery and tools needed by investors to proceed to the construction phase, Customs and Excise Director General Haru Pambudi said.
“Besides making procedures easy for the investors, the green lane facility will also cut short the waiting time,” the director general said.
He added that companies in the construction phase would most certainly have to import capital goods involving huge amounts. “If all of these have to pass through the red lane, they will end up taking a lot of time before being cleared,” the director general said.
Franky said the Capital Investment Coordinating Board has recommended 48 companies for the green lane facility. Of these, 39 are foreign investment firms and the nine others are domestic.
