Villagers continue occupying South Kalimantan?s coal terminal
Wednesday, June 6 2001 - 04:43 AM WIB
?We were negotiating with the villagers until early in the morning today to end the blockage.
?We reached some agreements with the villagers during the negotiation but they continue occupying our operating site this morning,? company operation manager Munawir told Petromindo.Com Wednesday morning via telephone from Laut Island.
The blockage by the villagers of Gosong Panjang started last Thursday, following a dispute over alleged ash pollution caused by the company. The action forced IBT to suspend its loading activities and coal shipment to many overseas buyers.
Munawir said the villagers had long complained about ash coming from the port.
In response to the complaint, IBT proposed the 300 families living in the village move to somewhere else.
The villagers agreed to the solution, but, Munawir said, thus far the plan of moving the villagers could not be realized because the villagers made too much demand.
For instance, Munawir said, the villagers demand IBT provide each family with a 1,000-sqare meter housing plot and a 2,500-square meters agricultural land in the new village.
The villagers then occupied the port last Thursday to force the company to meet their demands, Munawir said.
According to Munawir, the company has sought helps from the local police and authorities to end the occupation but they thus far appear to be reluctant to meet the company?s request.
IBT?s port is used by several coal companies in Kalimantan as the terminal for their coal shipment to domestic and foreign buyers. The companies include PT Adaro Indonesia and PT Arutmin Indonesia.
International customers that take coal from the port are Carboex, Union Fenosa in Spain; Enel Brindisy in Italy; Taipower in Taiwan; Itochu Electric in Japan; Duke Energy in Chile; Quezon Power Station and Mauban Power Station in the Philippines; Impakta in Slovenia; Hongkong Electric in Hong Kong; Kepco in South Korea.
Domestic customers that take coal from the port are Pation Energy in East Java and the Suralaya power plant in West Java.
According to Munawir, the port has the loading capacity of 600,000 tons per month and the company is expanding the capacity to 1 million tons this year.
Munawir said IBT had lost the chance of obtaining US$140,000 in potential daily revenue due to the occupation of the port by the villagers.
Aside from losing $140,000 daily potential revenue, the company has also to pay a large amount of demurrage to its customers due to its failure of loading coal onto their ships on time.
?We have to pay around $10,500 in demurrage for one-day delay in loading coal to a panamax vessel. The demurrage will reach $73,500 if the delay last for one week,? Munawir said.
He said three bulk carriers, each capable of carrying 70,000 tons of coal, sent by Spanish buyers, had left the port late last week without coal after staying at the port for four days. Two other vessels sent by Taiwanese customers have been waiting for one week at the port for IBT to resume its loading activities, Munawir said.
Adaro maintained however that it was still able to continue its coal shipment to buyers despite the suspension of the port operation.
The company is now using its floating facilities to load its coal onto vessels sent by its customers, a company official said. (Alex/Godang)