In a meeting with the media, Deputy Minister of the Environment of Indonesia Alue Dohong said: "A private company uses bulk carriers to export plywood and blockboard to the United States."
According to media reports: “Facts have proved that the use of bulk cargo is more efficient and 50% cheaper than the use of containers.” The deputy minister urged other companies to explore this shipping option.
In related news, Abdul Sobur, Chairman of the Indonesian Furniture and Crafts Industry Association (HIMKI), responded to the Minister of Trade’s suggestion that furniture exporters should use air freight when sea containers are unusable.
Sobur said that most of the furniture products in Indonesia are large-sized, so not all types of furniture can be profitable by air freight. Since the end of last year, the furniture industry has been suffering from rising freight rates, especially trans-continental transportation.
