Towards integrated port management systems along malacca straits

Paperless transaction offers various comforts that have made the world borderless. However, the finalization of international trade needs the goods to be delivered to certain destinations. Although carriage of goods by air guarantees less time, 90% of international trades are still carried out through the oceans. The strategic location of Indonesia in a cross-road position (posisi silang), that is between two land-masses of the world, Australia and Asia and between two great waters of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans has made Indonesia a centre of international trade routes. This way, the existance of a well-developed and efficiently run port sector is crucial. However, from the user's perspective, Indonesia does not have a port system which performs well enough to compete with the demand of international markets. Previous research has showed that the lack of competitiveness in Indonesia's ports is underpinned by the existence of too many insufficient and inefficient ports, which are rooted in limited private sector participation and competition in the port system. This is mostly due to the deficiencies in the legal as well as regulatory environments in the port management system, which leads to tight competition both within and between ports. This research seeks to analyse the Indonesian legal framework concerning the Ports Management System. While the current Indonesian Act 17/2008 on Shipping has provided the foundation for port system reform, much remains to be done. One of the implementation strategies of the National Ports Master Plan ((NPMP) envisaged within the draft of NPMP is integrated port planning. The draft further divides strategic ports into six economic corridors; and since this research focuses in ports located along the Malacca Straits, only the Sumatran economic corridor will be considered. This paper proposes the integrated planning model in the ports located in the Sumatran economic corridor.