Port cities can be lively, vibrant hives of activity—the hub of a nation’s economic health—if they’re planned well.

Indonesia’s busiest port, Tanjung Priok, has roughly two and a half times the container traffic as the Port of Melbourne. But it also has a reputation as one of the least efficient ports in Asia. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has recognised the need to transform the nation’s ports and plans to develop 24 new ports by 2019. One recently established, state-of-theart port is Teluk Lamong in Surabaya.

A team of Indonesian and Australian scientists and engineers will work with the Teluk Lamong port authorities to maximise the efficiency of links between ports, rails and roads.

“This research, funded by The Australia- Indonesia Centre, will assist both countries in getting the most out of their ports,” Dr Hera Widyastuti of the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, and Infrastructure Cluster Co-Lead of the Australia-Indonesia Centre, says.

“If our research can help improve port efficiency, accessibility and connectivity, there will definitely be positive impacts on employment, health and transportation in eastern Java.”

The Port of Melbourne is being used as a case study. The port is Australia’s largest city port for container trade, but is expected to quadruple in traffic by 2035 and wants to maintain its efficiency as it grows. As a large archipelago, Indonesia relies on shipping between its many islands as well as to the rest of the world. By 2019, the country is looking to become a world maritime axis— building not just 24 new ports, but also more than 3,000km of combined intercity and urban railways, and improving transport efficiency by rehabilitating 46,770km of existing roads across Indonesia.

“Bu Hera has been instrumental in bringing government authorities who are responsible for the master plan for transportation in East Java, Indonesia, and key personnel from PT Teluk Lamong Terminal and the Java Integrated Industrial and Port Estate into this project,” says Professor Wing Kong Chiu, Australia-Indonesia Centre Infrastructure Cluster Co-Lead, of Monash University.

The team also includes Professor Sigit Priyanto of Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia, Mr Ravi Ravitharan of The Institute of Rail Technology, Monash University and Associate Professor Colin Duffield of the School of Engineering (Infrastructure Engineering) at The University of Melbourne.

Credit for banner image: Nadia Astari.