Jakarta – The government has expressed optimism that it will be able to cut dwell times to two days in 2017 from about 2.9 days in November last year.

"Our dwell time target is two days by the end of this year," said Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution as reported by kontan.com on Wednesday.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has instructed relevant ministries to continue the push for better services at seaports to help smooth the flow of goods.

Darmin stressed that the current dwell time at Tanjung Priok Seaport had improved significantly, saying that in 2012, the average dwell time was still 6.5 days.

To achieve the two-day target, Darmin said, coordination among the relevant ministers should be strengthened, including the implementation of an online system among ministries and other government institutions through the Indonesia National Single Window (INSW).

"Therefore, we agree with the Finance Ministry and Transportation Ministry about strengthening the function of the INSW as an institution," he added.

Previously Transportation Minister Budi Karya said there were three aspects of dwell times at Tanjung Priok: pre-customs clearance of goods, customs clearance and post clearance.

However, the Transportation Ministry said dwell time for certain goods such as explosive materials for the military would be longer than that of other goods because such materials needed longer checks before they were allowed to leave the port. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/01/04/dwell-time-target-set-for-two-days-in-2017.html