Indonesia Exporters’ Association GPEI and the Indonesia Shippers’ Council Depalindo have questioned the transshipment or ship to ship (STS) activities of export at Muara Jawa, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, urging the authority to curb the activities.
Apart from the fact that Muara Jawa have not yet entered the customs area, these STS activities create potential loss to the state income, state revenues originating from royalties in particular as the STS cargoes are difficult to be verified properly.
“Therefore, we urge President Joko Widodo to intervene and order the relevant ministers to immediately curb the STS activities at Muara Jawa as they potentially create loss to state income,” Toto Dirgantoro, Depalindo General Chairman, said in a press statement on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.
Toto, who is also GPEI General Secretary, revealed that in mid-December 2023, he and the team had directly observed the STS activities at Muara Berau.
“We have carried out an investigation and seen directly the activities of the STS facility,” he explained.
Toto underlined that the location of the STS points of Muara Berau and Muara Jawa had been determined according to the Decree of the Minister of Transportation No KM 244 of 2020 concerning Determination of Port Locations for Ship to Ship Activities in the waters of Muara Jawa and Muara Berau.
The Muara Berau Port has been designated as a Customs area through Minister of Finance Decree No:15/WBC.16/2021. Meanwhile, Muara Jawa has not been designated as a Customs Area.
Therefore, Toto questioned why Muara Jawa can carry out ship to ship activities to export coal, though it is not yet a Customs area. In addition, the tariff in Muara Jawa is not known for certain because Muara Jawa does not yet have an official tariff guideline so it is thought to be slightly cheaper than the tariff in Muara Berau.
In fact, he added, the STS activities outside the customs area potentially reduces the state revenues. “We have data how this STS practices outside customs areas make loss of billions of rupiah per month,” said Toto.
In view of this, Depalindo and GPE also urge the Ministry of Finance not to ignore the regulations it has made. “The point is that the Ministry of Finance must be firm about not loading export goods or STS anywhere outside the customs area,” explained Toto.
The Decree of Finance Minister No: 155/2022 concerning Customs Provisions in the Export has expressly stated that loading of export goods in other places outside the Customs Area can be carried out with provisions. According to this decree, the activities are probable if there is no Customs Area available; the export goods are special in nature in view of size and/or shape which causes it to be unable to be loaded in the Customs Area; and if the means of transportation cannot dock directly at the pier.
Then, due to technical obstacles in the Customs Area, such as unavailability or damage to equipment for loading; and/or other considerations taking into account optimizing services and/or export supervision.
To carry out loading at another place outside the Customs Area, the exporter submits an application to the Head of the Customs Office stating the reasons as intended in the provisions above.
“Therefore, we urge that STS activities in Muara Jawa be immediately curbed to prevent bigger loss to state income,” said Toto.