The New Air Cargo Regulation

On 21 April 2011, the Ministry of Transportation issued a new cargo processing regulation, SKEP/255/ TW2011, designed to optimize security surveillance at all airports in Indonesia..

The regulation stipulated that only three companies would be responsible for security screening of cargo shipments. Those three replaced eight companies that had been contracted to do the job previously.

Besides, packages are to be inspected individually, causing 10 to 14 times increase in the inspection cost from Rp 60 (US 0.007 cents) per Kilogram to Rp 850 (US$ 0,10) per Kilogram.

When the regulation was implemented at the Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta last July, the result was disastrous. A long backlog developed of cargo waiting for inspection, hundreds of tons of cargo, including newspapers, medicine and even human remains, were stranded, incurring losses in the billions of Rupiah. This prompted cargo companies to strike working.

In order to stop the chaos, the government has postponed the implementation of the regulation until 3 September.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) has urged the government to postpone the implementation of regulation for six months, saying that lack of infrastructure and manpower will cause bottlenecks.

However, the government insists that the regulation will be implemented on 4 September.

Considering the huge impact that cargo clearnce has on businesses and the economy as a whole, I hope that the government would postpone implementation of the new regulation and talk to all the parties involved to find the best solution for this case.