Year/YoY) in the second quarter, growth slowed in the third quarter to 3.51% (YoY). However, after successfully passing the critical phase of the Delta wave, the fourth quarter growth picked up again to 5.02% (YoY).
Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in 2021 remained low and below the target range of 3.0±1%. CPI inflation in 2021 was 1.87% (YoY), an increase compared 1.68% (YoY) in 2020. The low inflation in 2021 was influenced by weak domestic demand as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, adequate supplies, and policy synergy between Bank Indonesia and the Government at the central and regional levels to maintain price stability. Amid concerns over high global inflation, low domestic inflation indicated that the Government’s measures and policies had been effective.
From the port industry side, the increasing level of commodity containerization was driven by improvements in infrastructure and port operations. Currently, the level of commodity containerization in Indonesia has only reached 14% with the main commodities being manufactured products, vegetables, ready-to-eat foods, and protein (animals). As port development continues, the containerization rate is predicted to continue to increase. Containerization growth is predicted to experience steady growth if the GDP growth is at the predicted baseline of 5.2%. However, if there is an aggressive GDP growth is 8.5%, there will be an increase in containment growth of 4%.
In addition, new habits after the COVID-19 pandemic also affected the maritime trade routes during early 2021. A recovery phase can be seen in ports activities that demonstrated resilience to consumer demand and global supply chains, however, imbalance trading and uneven economic growth in the world also led to a shortage of containers in the East.
In the non-container market, the highest trading volume was between China and Southeast Asia with volumes reaching 397.7 million tons. With the high volume of maritime trade in Asia and the growth of trade in Southeast Asia, there is potential for developing the port business, especially for the Far East-Europe trade route that passes through the Malacca Strait. In Indonesia itself, the volume of container and non-container trade is still centered on the islands of Java and Sumatra. This is related to Indonesia’s population and GDP on Java and Sumatra, where more than 50% of Indonesia’s population and GDP contribution comes from Java.
In the midst of these economic and port industry conditions, the Board of Directors faced the challenges and opportunities that occurred by recording a good performance in 2021. In terms of port operations, total ship traffic in 2021 reached 254,669 units,
