Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The losses suffered by manufacturing firms due to the floods that have paralyzed the capital since last Friday may reach more than Rp 1 trillion (US$105.2 million).

"We're still calculating the losses. It will take us at least two weeks to do this before we can file insurance claims. But, we estimate that it will cost us not less than Rp 1 trillion," Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofyan Wanandi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

State planning minister and National Development Planning Board chairman Paskah Suzetta said earlier that the floods had likely inflicted losses of about Rp 4.1 trillion on the economy.

The planning board said it would announce the actual losses within the next two weeks.

Apindo said factories in industrial estates in Bekasi, Tangerang, Pulogadung and Kerawang had mostly been forced to halt operations due to the flooding.

At the height of the floods, many workers had been unable to get to work. Electricity and telephone services had also been cut, while diesel generators turned out to be useless as timely supplies of additional diesel were unavailable.

"It was the worst flood disaster to have affected manufacturing industry in the last 30 years," Sofyan said.

Apindo secretary-general Djimanto said capacity utilization by manufacturing firms in Greater Jakarta dropped by 15 percent and 30 percent on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Things got even worse Monday, when it declined by 50 percent due to the flooding.

The Indonesian Textile Association (API) reported that 16 garment factories in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, had been paralyzed and that losses were estimated to have reached US$9.6 million.

Dozens of food and beverage companies halted operations as the homes of hundreds of thousands of their employees were inundated, the industry association said. Losses suffered by the industry were estimated at about Rp 100 billion.

Sofyan said manufacturing companies were now focusing on resuming the flow of exports and imports through Tanjung Priok Port, which has also been seriously affected by the flooding

On Wednesday, only 3,500 containers arrived at the port, far lower than the 9,000 to 10,000 containers that arrived on normal days.

Sofyan said that manufacturing firms were not only concerned about the losses and damage caused by the flooding, but also about possible complaints from disgruntled overseas buyers about late delivery.

"We don't know. Companies overseas may complain if we fail to deliver the goods on time," he said.

He expressed the hope that state electricity company PLN would immediately restore power supplies to flooded areas as many factories in Pulogadung and Cilincing, both in North Jakarta, were still blacked out.

"We can deal with the transportation problems, but there is nothing we can do about electricity and fuel supplies," he stressed.