Indonesia to set up post-cabotage task force

The Indonesian National Shipowners Association (INSA), the State Owned Enterprises Ministry, and several state-owned companies (SOEs) are reported to be planning to set up a post-cabotage task force to cut the country’s freight costs of IDR240trn ($24.96bn) a year, most of which is attributed to foreign shipowners, Seatrade Asia online reports.

INSA is working with SOEs because they handle 20% to 30% of exports and imports. Trade volume reached 567m tonnes in  2011, the year the government introduced cabotage rules, but Indonesian-flagged ships only transported 9.1% of this total, leaving the bulk of the business to foreign ships.