2021/Jun

Exporters Complained About the Increase Shipping Costs

Entrepreneurs complain about the cost of shipping containers at the port which is getting more expensive during the pandemic. This is because it is difficult to get containers or there is a scarcity so that it can interfere with exports. This is caused by the movement of the volume of goods that are not balanced, export and import activities, the ship will lose money if it transports a smaller volume of goods. Chairman of the Indonesian Logistics Association, Mr. Mahendra Riyanto, confirmed this, the cost of sea containers from Indonesia's main ports has increased to several destinations. Such as Australia, Europe, the Middle East, also the United States. The increase is very significant, this makes it difficult for us to export, due to this pandemic, the movement of goods in the world is also reduced. For example, the cost of shipping goods from Semarang to Australia has now more than doubled. Mahendra explained that the increase in container costs was also due to the declining purchasing power of the people due to the pandemic. So that the volume of goods flows into and out of the port is not balanced. Chairman of ALFI, Yukki N. Hanafi, said that since August 2020 it was conveyed that there would be a vacancy of 40 feet containers for long-distance activities, because America and Europe at that time were still under lockdown, resulting in accumulation, which resulted in expensive container prices. And this condition continues to this day. Especially for destinations to several countries such as America and Europe. The most impacted by this condition are exporters and importers, of course, down to the furniture and textile MSMEs downstream. The cost increase ranges from 200-300%. Although it doesn't happen in all destinations. ( Source : https://www.cnbcindonesia.com )