Tag: Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia has formally notified IMO of its intention The Republic of Indonesia has formally notified IMO of its intention to ratify the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Convention), Annexes III, IV, V and VI, and the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR).Mr. E.E. Mangindaan, Minister for Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia, told IMO Secretary-General Mr. Koji Sekimizu of the intention to ratify on 3 August 2012, during the Secretary-General's visit to Indonesia.The Secretary-General expressed his strong appreciation to the Minister for his efforts to have these two important Conventions ratified and encouraged the Minister to accelerate efforts towards ratification of other IMO conventions, including the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004, and the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.During the visit, Secretary-General Sekimizu also met with Mr. Wardana, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia, before proceeding to Batam, Indonesia for the hand-over ceremony of the Marine Electronic Highway (MEH) IT system.Source: World Maritime News

Indonesia may give greater priority to Asian, Eastern European and Middle Eastern palm oil buyers Indonesia may give greater priority to Asian, Eastern European and Middle Eastern palm oil buyers because of possible new environmental regulations in the United States and Europe, the Indonesian palm oil association (Gapki) said."We threat (threaten) EU and US to move our product to other regions because of too many non-tariff barriers," said Gapki official Tofan Mahdi.The Southeast Asian palm oil industry failed in late January to meet greenhouse gas saving standards to qualify for the U.S. renewable fuels programme.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said palm oil converted into biofuels in Indonesia and Malaysia cut up to 17 percent of climate warming emissions, falling short of a 20 percent requirement to enter the world's largest energy market.Gapki officials fear U.S. efforts to limit palm oil's uses based on environmental concerns could spread to Europe.Source: Reuters

Attacks can be avoided if crews maintained a careful anti-piracy watch and raised the alarm quickly A new stance by Indonesia has made a major difference in what was once the world's top piracy blackspot.Noel Choong, of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), said now most attacks in the busy shipping lanes between Indonesia and Malaysia could be stopped, as long as crews maintained a careful anti-piracy watch and raised the alarm quickly.A decade ago, Indonesia's lawless waters headed the world's list of piracy trouble spots, particularly the Malacca Straits between Sumatra and West Malaysia.Choong, head of the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur, said alerting the Indonesian authorities then brought few results. But international pressure prompted Indonesia's navy and marine police to take a tougher stance.Located on a shipping route linking China, Japan, Korea and other Asian countries to Europe and the Middle East, the waterways around Singapore and Malaysia carry a massive proportion of the world's commercial shipping.Ships must pass through the Malacca Straits, Singapore Straits and the South China Sea, and into Indonesian waters. Often they carry vast sums of cash in the ship's safe - frequently the pirates' prime target.The nature of the attacks is quite ...

The ban will encourage the development of local processing plants The Correspondent for Indonesia, Spica Services, reports that the Ministry of Energy and Resources is imposing a ban on the export of certain unprocessed mining commodities including metal minerals such as nickel ore, iron ore and iron sand.Regulation No. 7 of 2012 "Increase in Mineral's Added Value Through Mineral's Processing and Refined Activities" ("the Regulation") is to come into force as from 6 May 2012. For a copy of the Regulation click here.The purpose of the ban is to encourage the development of local processing plants, thereby ensuring that a greater proportion of the potential value of these commodities is retained locally.Spica report that there is at present considerable uncertainty how the legislation will be implemented but it is thought that there will be an interim procedure whereby exporters that can prove to the satisfaction of the authorities that they are committed to developing the capacity to process their unrefined ores by 2014 will be granted temporary export permits. After this interim phase, the intention is that only the export of processed cargoes will be permitted.While the extent to which the ban will be enforced remains to be seen, there ...

To stop miners from overexploiting resources to beat a 2014 ban on shipment Indonesia is considering a hefty tax on mining exports to stop miners from overexploiting resources to beat a 2014 ban on shipments of some unprocessed metals and lower grade coal, an official said yesterday, but the plan may backfire if foreign buyers turn elsewhere.The proposal to impose a 25 per cent export tax on coal and base metals - rising to 50 per cent in 2013 - was greeted with a mix of confusion and scepticism as both producers and importers across Asia tried to assess its impact."Ever since we issued a mining law in 2009, miners have reacted by increasing their production multiple times, exploiting and exporting everything they've got," Mr Thamrin Sihite, director-general for coal and minerals at Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Minerals, told Reuters."This is dangerous and we need to curb that. We issued a ministerial regulation in February to ban unprocessed mineral ores and this new export tax regulation ... We hope the tax will reduce the export rush further. But I can't tell you when it will be issued."The latest tax proposal could join a raft of regulations aimed at increasing ...

ClassNK has entered into an agreement with Indonesian classification society ClassNK has entered into an agreement with Indonesian classification society, Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia Persero (BKI), to focus on deepening cooperation between the two societies in a range of maritime sectors.BKI and ClassNK have been working together in classification for over 40 years, but ClassNK says that this agreement marks a new stage in the relationship, in which the two parties look to move closer together for the benefit of the industry.The agreement provides for a proactive approach to the sharing of information and the exchange of opinions on technical and industry topics. Also on the agenda is pooling of the two organisations' technical and human resources as the two societies look to improve the quality and convenience of their services across the board in the ship and offshore fields. There is potential for joint research and development projects, collaboration on the development of technical rules, plan approval and surveys, as well as the education and training of technical staff.The agreement was signed by Captain Purnama, president director of BKI and Noboru Ueda, chairman and president of ClassNK. Speaking after the signing, Mr Ueda expressed his excitement at the potential of ...

Indonesia was reelected a Category C member of IMO Council Indonesia was reelected a Category C member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Council for the 2011-2013 period at the 27th IMO Assembly here on Saturday.At the 27th assembly led by Ambassador Eduardo Medina-Mora at the IMO Headquarters, Indonesia won 128 of the 155 valid votes, according to Ira Mamesah, second secretary of the Indonesian embassy here.The Indonesian delegation to the assembly was led by Transportation Minister E.E. Mangindaan accompanied by deputy chairmen Herry Sudradjat (interim charge d'affaires of the Indonesian embassy in London) and the communications inspector general of the ministry of transportation).The re-election of Indonesia as member of the IMO Council was an appreciation of the international community for the role of Indonesia which had actively provided positive contributions to IMO activities, particularly regarding security and safety of shipping and marine protection.Source: The Jakarta Post

Skuld P&I Club Alert Operators involved in the carriage of Nickel Ore from Indonesia should be aware that the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Department (BMKG) has recently provided estimates for the commencement of the 2011 monsoon.This is expected to begin in October in Halmahera and in November in Sulawesi and West Papua.These islands/areas represent the origin ports of the majority of Indonesian nickel ore cargoes and increased rainfall can result in increased moisture contents of cargoes. Increased vigilance is always recommended during stock pile inspection, sampling, testing, and loading of these cargoes, but is of even greater critical importance during the monsoon season.We otherwise refer members to our circulars of 27 January 2011 IG Group Circular for Safe Carriage of Nickel Ore for recommendations on inspection, sampling, testing, etc., and our circular of 23 August 2011 in respect of the IG recommended charterparty clause.Our thanks to SPICA Singapore for providing information concerning the Indonesian monsoon season.Source: The Skuld P&I Club

To commit to infrastructure investments in Indonesia AP Moller-Maersk Group and Indonesian port operator Pelindo II inked a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday to commit to infrastructure investments in Indonesia."Indonesia is already an important market for Maersk, and we are interested in committing more of our resources to expand our operations in the country," said Nils Andersen, ceo of AP Moller-Maersk.Andersen said the group intends to develop and expand the infrastructure of Indonesia in cooperation with Pelindo II, facilitating Indonesia's growing foreign trade.The memorandum of understanding outlines a plan for training and development of Pelindo II staff as well as providing consultancy support in lifting operational efficiencies in one of the Pelindo II facilities.Source: Seatrade Asia

8 mini LNG receiving terminals to be installed in eastern Indonesia Jakarta:State oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and state electricity utility PT PLN have agreed to jointly establish a liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping company to supply eight mini LNG receiving terminals to be installed in eastern Indonesia. More details of the proposed fleet would be made available by the end of the year, the pair said.Source: Seatrade Asia