Arpeni to buy five more ships to boost its coal shipment business next year

Publicly listed shipping firm PT Arpeni Pratama Ocean Line plans to buy five more ships next year to boost the company's coal shipment business which at present contributes about 70 percent to its total revenues, Investor Daily reported Monday.

The company's Corporate Secretary Ronald Nangoi said in Jakarta Saturday that two of the five ships to be bought would include Panamax types, two tug boats and another one floating crane.

This year, the company has added 15 ships to increase the number of coal shipment fleet to 58 ships of different types.

At present, the coal shipment to overseas is still dominated by foreign shipping companies controlling about 95 percent of the existing market. Local ships transported only about five percent or about 699.3 tons million last year, Ronald said

In the domestic market, the company controls about 24 percent of the market or about 30 million tons, he added.

In other issues, Director of Finance Ateng Suhendra asked state-owned electricity company PLN to soon announce the winner of the tender to transport about 60 million tons of coal in 15 years to Tanjung Jati B power plant.

The tender which was launched last year should be announced soon so that bidders would have certainty in the orders, he said, adding that the company had formally sent a letter to PLN to urge it to announce the winner immediately. (*)