JAKARTA: Shipping operator urged the government to continue the policy of removing ship import duty to support the increase of trade ships in Indonesia.Indonesian National Ship-owners Association (INSA) wants the removal of import duty to grab the potential Indonesian sea cargo that may reach 1 billion ton a year, said Chairperson Carmelita Hartoto.She thought that ship import duty is still needed until domestic industry is able to supply the needs of national ships.The removal of ship import duty will help national shipping in increasing fleets to deliver goods from abroad.Import duty could not be imposed to import ships yet, she said yesterday.Carmelita, who also serves as President Director at PT Andhika Lines, was appointed to be Chairperson of the shipping association for the term 2011-2013, replacing Johnson W. Sutjipto in the 15th general meeting.During the last 6 years, as she explained, the shipping industry has been developing rapidly in line with the implementation of cabotage rule, in which domestic sea transportation is obliged to use Indonesian ships.The number of trade fleets has been growing about 60%, while the amount of goods delivered by national ships increased by 98.1%.Moreover, sea transportation has the potential to keep surging in the future, as demands grow in line with the national economic development, she said.In 2009, total domestic goods transportation reached 286.4 million ton and in 2014, it is projected to reach 361.6 million ton.The acceleration of shipping in the future is needed to anticipate the growth of cargo. She added that the implementation of cabotage on non-passengers and goods transporting ships between ports needs the removal of import duty. The cabotage rule will be effective by 2015 based on the Ministry Decree No.48/2011.The Ministry Decree states that activities of natural oil and gas survey using 2D/3D seismic ships and geophysics and geotechnics survey using foreign ships are still allowed before December 2014.Lirik daerahIt needs balanced empowerment of shipping industry in regional areas to optimize the potential cargo shipping from Indonesia both domestically and internationally, said Carmelita.She explained that the program of balanced empowerment features the certainty of agreement on loans from banks to the needed area.In addition to boost financing from banks to regional areas, INSA will consolidate the role of shipping in all regions and will create a special department to provide advocacy in legal for its members.Regional governments, as she added, need to give serious concerns on development of the shipping sector wbu accelerating the construction of infrastructure for national connectivity.Shipping empowerment by regional governments needs to be improved. I think that since the President Instruction No.5/2005, regional government has not been doing optimal efforts in developing shipping industry, she said. (t04/msw)

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