South Sumatra transportation policy may hit PTBA coal shipment

The South Sumatra provincial government has decided to prohibit coal carriers from passing below the Ampera Bridge, a policy that might threatens coal supplies from state owned coal miner PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA), Kompas reported on Tuesday.

PTBA ships some of its coal down the Musi river from the Kertapati port passing the Ampera bridge.

The provincial government imposed the prohibition because tug boats have frequently hit security fence and pillar of the bridge.

PTBA President Director Sukrisno told Petromindo.Com on Tuesday that PTBA ships 1.7 million tons of coal annually using tug boats from Kertapati. The amount include between 600,000 and 700,000 tons for the Suralaya power plant, the rest for cement producer Indocement and Malaysian markets.

"Thus far, we don't have problems in shipping coals from Kertapati. I will shortly telephone the South Sumatra governor to ask for a solution to the Musi river problem," he said.

PTBA is ready to help solve the problem by recommending the replacement of some materials of the bridge.

Aside from Musi river, PTBA also transports its coal through railway to Lampung's port of Tarahan.

PTBA plans to increase coal sales to 13 million tons this year, spurred by increases in demand and production from a new mine. It sells most of its output to state owned electricity firm PT PLN?s subsidiary PT Indonesia Power that operates 3,400-MW Suralaya power plant in Banten province. (godang)