Businesses warn against closure of coal activities in Cirebon port
Wednesday, March 23 2016 - 02:31 AM WIB
The companies during the meeting asked the help of the legislative council to issue a recommendation to cancel the planned suspension of coal activities at the port, reports said.
Head of the Cirebon chapter of the Young Indonesian Businessmen Association (HIPMI Cirebon) Eki Bahtiar said that ending coal activities at the Cirebon port will disrupt coal supply to local manufacturing industries in West Java which rely on the commodity primarily as source of fuel, which in turn will undermine their competitiveness and may eventually lead to massive layoffs.
The Ministry of Transportation issued on March 10 a letter instructing state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II to suspend coal unloading and loading activities at the Cirebon port by March 25 at the latest following complaints of environmental pollution.
Head of the Cirebon Port Rivolindo (one name) said that the port can resume coal activities after Pelindo completes revision of the environmental impact assessment study (or Amdal) of the port.
The Cirebon port currently handles about 3 million tons of coal per year, a surge from 300,000 tons per annum in 2002, to serve the coal demand from industries in West Java.
Cement maker PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa reportedly would shut down of its two cement processing plants due to uncertainty over coal supply following reports that the port authority in Cirebon will suspend coal unloading and loading activities.
News portal FokusJabar.com quoted head of supply department at Indocement Cirebon, Agus Triwono as saying that due to uncertainty over coal supply, the company decided to only operate one cement processing plant, which will consequently cut down the company?s output by half from normal level of 3,500 tons per day. Indocement requires about 800 tons of coal per day for one plant. (*)