Jakarta Customs Seeks to Cut Port Dwell Time by Expanding Bonded Logistics Centers

Jakarta Customs is seeking to make greater use of bonded logistics centers, or PLBs, as holding facilities for cargo moving through the capital’s ports. The aim is to reduce the time goods remain inside port areas and lower logistics costs.

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We ensure that the facilities provided by Customs are genuinely useful, support economic growth and development, and increase business activity.

Jakarta Customs regional chief Hendri Darnadi discussed the approach during a visit to PT Sarana Gemilang in the Nusantara Bonded Zone. He said the visit assessed how the company used the PLB facility and identified any problems affecting its operations.

Darnadi said Customs’ role extends beyond facilitating trade. It also monitors whether the facilities it provides help companies expand their businesses and support wider industrial and economic growth. The company visited had used the PLB facility from 2017 to 2026 without encountering serious problems, he said.

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The role of Customs is not only to facilitate trade, but also to provide facilities to companies so they can develop industry and grow the economy.

He said PLBs could reduce port occupancy by allowing goods to leave the port more quickly and move to a bonded storage location before continuing through the next stage of processing. They would not, however, solve traffic jams on roads around the port. Darnadi said road congestion lies outside Customs’ authority, while reducing port occupancy remains within the agency’s role.

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What we can reduce is the occupancy rate at the port, because goods can leave more quickly and there is a place to hold them. Traffic congestion is outside Customs’ domain.