Germany finds truckers cheating to hide emissions

Yahoo – AFP, April 2, 2019

Emissions cheating in trucks is rampant and getting harder to detect (AFP Photo/
Christoph Schmidt)

Frankfurt am Main (AFP) - German authorities have identified hundreds of trucks "manipulated" to save their operators money by shutting off exhaust treatment systems, saying many more cheating vehicles could be at large on Europe's roads.

Of around 13,000 trucks whose "AdBlue" filter system was checked on German roads last year, 300 were "defective", a government answer to a parliamentary question from the Greens party seen Tuesday by AFP showed.

Of 132 such defects spotted since August last year, 84 could be traced back to deliberate manipulation rather than a technical fault, the government added -- a distinction not drawn in statistics collected before then.

Electronic devices available for around 100 euros ($112) allow users to deactivate the exhaust treatment system, allowing some trucking firms to make massive savings, daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported after revealing the scheme.

But with their catalytic converters switched off, the trucks spew far more harmful pollutants.

"The fact that we are finding more manipulated systems than faulty ones is an alarm signal," Greens MP Stephan Kuehn said.

With time, "the parts needed for the cheating are becoming smaller and smaller and more sophisticated, and therefore more difficult to find" during spot checks, the government added.

The SZ reported that operators can save up to one-third of the costs of running a truck supposedly meeting the Euro 5 or 6 emissions standard by installing one of the boxes or modifying software -- an even harder-to-detect option.

Devices or software changes can enable cheating in a number of ways.

Some fool the engine control software into thinking the catalytic converter is still working, preventing a warning to the driver or an automatic reduction in performance.

Others produce fake readings for the outside temperature, triggering a system that deactivates exhaust treatment at below -11 Celsius (12.2 Fahrenheit).

Clusters of similar rule-breaking have been identified elsewhere in Europe, especially in Spain.

Without exhaust treatment, trucks emit far more nitrogen oxides (NOx), which studies have shown is linked to various respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

Since Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to cheating emissions tests on 11 million vehicles worldwide, alarm has spread in Germany about levels of the gas in city air.

Federal, state and local governments are battling to prevent drivers of older diesel vehicles being banned from city centres as courts order a growing number of exclusion zones.

After taxis, Uber to launch app-based freight service in the Netherlands

DutchNews, March 21, 2019

Taxi company Uber is bringing its trucking app Uber Freight to the Netherlands – the first foray into Europe for the two-year-old service. 

The launch will be made in the coming weeks when ‘local carriers and drivers will be able to book and move their first loads with Uber Freight’, the company said. 

Uber says it plans to expand the service from the Netherlands to other parts of Europe in the near future. Uber’s European headquarters are in Amsterdam. 

Uber Freight, launched in the US two years ago, is based on an app which connects trucking companies of any size with suppliers looking to deliver goods. 

Uber Freight has run into difficulty in the US because of a shortage of drivers and has increased incentives to get more takers. The unit was spun of into a separate unit within the group last August.

Related Article:

Five years on, Uber settles Dutch UberPop case for €2.3m

Despite shortage of space and staff, no stop to distribution centre growth

DutchNews, March 26, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

New distribution centres covering a record of nearly two million m2 – the equivalent of 400 football fields – were built in the Netherlands in 2017 and still more are planned along the country’s motorways, according to research by broadcaster NOS. 

Many large international companies are queuing up to distribute their products through the Netherlands despite the shortage of land and people to staff them, NOS said.There are currently 53,000 unfilled distribution centre jobs available. 

NOS contacted commercial brokers association NVM Business as well as a number of leading commercial property firms for its report. ‘We are seeing for the first time that  developers are building distribution centres on spec before they have any tenant or buyer in mind,’ said Liesbeth Kramer of NVM Business. ‘Demand is enormous.’ 

Total space covered by distribution centres in the Netherlands has increased by 40% to more than 30 million m2 in the past 10 years. The most are located in Noord-Brabant province, followed by Limburg. 

‘All major high streets from London to Paris  and Germany’s Ruhr region are stocked by warehouses in the southern part of the Netherlands,’ said Joost Uwents, CEO of Belgo-Dutch developer WDP, which is the largest in the Netherlands. 

Uwents, who is a Belgian national, is full of praise for the Dutch government which has supported the logistics sector in a big way. He cites major improvements to the road infrastructure around Rotterdam and Eindhoven as will as upgrades in the rail and inland waterway structures. 

Tax 

The Dutch tax regime – unlike that in in other countries  – also benefits distribution activities as VAT is added only on final delivery of goods, said Richard Elich of property developer David Hart Group. 

And even though the southern part of the country is generally preferred for distribution centres, the parent of Spanish fashion group Zara opted for Lelystad for its new distribution centre.  ‘Quite simply, they settled there because the could get both space and staff,’ Uwents said.

Rotterdam to tackle air pollution, ban old cars from city centre

DutchNews.nl, November 28, 2014

Rotterdam council plans to improve the city’s air quality and has drawn up a €12m package of measures which locals will be asked to approve, Dutch media report on Friday.

The plans include getting rid of polluting cars and slashing pollution levels. In addition, the council’s own fleet of vehicles will be overhauled to reduce its pollution rate by 25%. 

The council is also considering financially rewarding owners to get rid of polluting cars. In addition it suggests that no more parking permits will be given for diesel vehicles built before 2005 and petrol-driver cars predating 1992.

More charging stations will be built for electric vehicles and there will be better bike facilities. 

The council also wants to ban lorries from the ‘s Gravendijkwal, currently the city’s most polluted road and a major highway that leads to the Maas tunnel. Transport organisations have already criticised the lorry ban proposal, saying it will force freight firms to use longer, more expansive routes, the Financieele Dagblad reported.

Research shows Rotterdammers live three years less than the average Dutch national, which is partly due to road pollution.

Utrecht and Amsterdam have already taken steps to reduce the number of polluting cars in their city centres.

DAF Trucks signs deal to sell 700 vehicles to Russian transport firm

DutchNews.nl, Tuesday 30 September 2014

(NOS/ANP)

Eindhoven-based car maker DAF Trucks has received an order for 700 vehicles from Russian transport group Monopoly, the company says on its website.

The order was placed at the IAA trade fair in Hannover. Monopoly is based in St Petersburg and specialises in transporting goods in controlled conditions.

Last week DAF announced an order for 1,000 vehicles from European transport group Waberer’s International. DAF is also setting up its own marketing and sales arm in Istanbul to strengthen its market position in Turkey.

Priok port access badly damaged

Aditya Suharmoko and Novia D. Rulistia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The flow of goods to and from Tanjung Priok port has been further disrupted due to worsening road conditions and a scarcity of trailers, Director General of Customs and Excise Anwar Suprijadi said Thursday.

Up to 60 percent of import-export activities in the country go through Tanjung Priok port, government records said.

Anwar said delivery time and operational costs for companies had been adversely affected.

"The total losses from this is huge," he said without disclosing figures.

"I have reported it to the Secretary of Cabinet and a special team under the President overseeing the flow of goods."

The Land Transportation Organization (Organda) said potential losses due to the damaged Cakung-Cilincing road heading to Tanjung Priok could reach about Rp 2.2 billion (about US$243,000) for trailer renters every day.

Jakarta's Organda chairman Herry Rotti told The Jakarta Post damaged roads, which led to the scarcity of trailers, had decreased the total rate of truck cycles by half, from 4,000 a day.

"From one cycle, truck owners can have around Rp 1 million, which is a difference of 2,000 cycles, so their loss could reach Rp 2 billion," he said.

In addition, the maintenance expenses from 6,000 trucks at the port would be higher, reaching around Rp 200 million a day, he said.

"The only solution is to fix the roads," he said.

Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president overseeing transportation Chris Kanter confirmed the rates of trailer cycles to the port had been decreasing, particularly since the rainy season.

"Usually, a trailer can do three to five cycles a day," Chris said.

"Now it can do only one. Exports and imports are definitely in trouble."

Indonesia's ranking this year in the transportation infrastructure area dropped from 89 to 91.

Since September, the Cakung-Cilincing road has been widened from two lanes to three and has been raised slightly.

Director of highways and city roads at the Public Works Ministry Harris Batubara said traffic congestion was not only because of road reparations, but was also because trucks stopped roadside to repair blown tires.

He said the project was expected to finish mid year.

The government has allocated Rp 61.9 trillion for infrastructure spending in 2008, and about Rp 33.8 trillion would be spent on transportation infrastructure.

Eco-driving promoted to cut emissions

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is working to change the behavior of public transportation drivers, a key element in the campaign to reduce carbon emissions.

The transportation sector accounts for 50 percent of the nation's total fuel consumption. Of that, 80 percent is consumed by land transportation.

"In addition to fuel diversification, energy-use efficiency is a second means of reducing national fuel subsidies, which have proven to be very costly for Indonesia," Dollaris Riauaty "Waty" Suhadi, the project manager for Swisscontact's Clean Air Project, said during a campaign drive Thursday.

To increase efficiency in fuel use, Waty added, Swisscontact has introduced eco-driving or fuel-efficiency driving among bus and commercial vehicle operators through a pilot study involving drivers of charter bus firm PT Hiba Utama.

"After training 100 Hiba Utama drivers in eco-driving techniques, our study concluded that the company managed to reduce fuel consumption up to 18 percent, enabling it to save at least US$12,000 per month," she said. Hiba Utama operates more than 2,000 vehicles and employs at least 4,000 drivers.

Swisscontact previously trained 50 truck drivers at publicly-listed cement maker PT Holcim Indonesia in 2006, the year the non-government organization first introduced eco-driving to Indonesia. The concept has also been applied in Switzerland, Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany.

In eco-driving, motorists avoid hard acceleration, excessive braking and other behaviors that lead to higher fuel consumption.

"The way we accelerate and shift gears affects the way fuel is used," said the Transportation Ministry's director general for land transportation, Iskandar Abubakar.

According to Iskandar, since the commercial transportation sector is not only the country's largest fuel consumer, but also one of the sectors most likely to be hit by fuel subsidy cuts, there is a greater need for eco-friendly operation measures within the industry.

Soetanto Soehondo of the City Transportation Board, however, argued that the idea should have been introduced among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and individually-owned commercial operators first, instead of big players like Hiba Utama and PT Bluebird.

"A cursory glance at the city's transportation system will tell you that the main contributors to carbon monoxide emissions are actually buses owned by SMEs and private individuals," Soetanto told The Jakarta Post by phone Thursday evening.

"Well-established companies like Hiba, on the other hand, already have certain operating standards. So naturally they will face fewer challenges in training their drivers, unlike public bus operators, which are pressed to generate as much money as possible within a short period of time," he argued.

According to Waty, Swisscontact is targeting large fleet companies for reasons of efficiency.

"Introducing eco-driving measures to companies with large vehicle fleets will yield more results than approaching SMEs that on average run small numbers of vehicles," she said. (amr)

Trucks, buses ready to ferry air passengers

JAKARTA (Jakarta Post) : State-owned toll operator PT Jasa Marga has prepared three buses and three trucks in anticipation of flooding on turnpikes leading to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

With higher ground clearance, the vehicles are better suited for traveling in flood conditions than cars or motorbikes. They have been stationed at Kapuk toll gates and could be used to take passengers to the airport if the turnpikes become inundated.

"Jasa Marga readied the buses and trucks last Saturday, in case there were floods," Jasa Marga representative Jajat Sudradjat said, as quoted by Detik news portal.

The company also prepared 10 water pumps to remove water from the road.

High tides hit Jakarta's north coast earlier this month and interrupted road access to the airport, causing many passengers to miss their flights.

DaimlerChrysler ups production

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

DaimlerChrysler, the producer of Mercedes-Benz passenger and commercial vehicles, plans to increase production at its Indonesian assembly plant next year by almost 50 percent to cope with growing demand.

Rudi Borgenheimar, the president director of PT DaimlerChrysler Indonesia, said Thursday that total production at the company's assembly plant in Bogor, West Java, would reach 1,700 units this year.

He said that with higher demand in both the luxury car and truck markets, the company planned to increase production by 47 percent to about 2,500 units next year

"Next year, we will assemble 500 buses, 1,200 C-class series cars, 550 E-class series cars, and 200 S-class series cars," Borgenheimar said after the launching of the W204, the latest variant in the C-class series, at the Bogor plant.

However, he said the company had no plans as yet to increase the plant's production capacity as the existing capacity was still adequate to meet demand.

Indonesia is the company's fourth largest market in Southeast Asia after Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

At present, the Wanaherang, Bogor, plant, the company's only production line in Southeast Asia, has a capacity to assemble 40,000 vehicles a year.

As of the end of October, DaimlerChrysler had sold 1,741 sedans and trucks, representing an increase of almost 200 percent compared with the 914 vehicles sold in 2006.

Of these, 587 were C-class sedans, while 289 were E-class sedans.

The country's total sales of private and commercial vehicles amounted to 349,489 during the January-October period, almost 10 percent more than the 318,904 vehicles sold in 2006.

Borgenheimar also said that DaimlerChrysler was planning to change its name to PT Mercedes-Benz Indonesia next month. (adt)

Canadian encourages Bali bicycle trend

Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

One fact of life that a 10-day cycling trip from Jakarta to Bali taught industrial designer Jeffrey Werner is that there is a clear hierarchy of road users in Indonesia.

"Bus drivers are at the top, while cyclists are at the bottom of the chain," the 28-year-old Canadian said.

As he cycled over the hilly terrain of the southern coast of Java between late July and early August, Werner was forced off the road by buses and trucks more than half a dozen times.

Two weeks after arriving in Ubud, a hilly tourist spot north of the capital city, Denpasar, the former competitive cyclist noticed the rusty old bikes sitting in his employer's garage and hit on the idea of promoting the bicycle as a "green" mode of transportation in Bali.

His employer was the internationally renowned Bali-based jewelry designer John Hardy, who is also the founder of the Kul-kul campus of the School for Life in Ubud, Bali. The school takes a holistic approach to education.

Werner, who is involved in the ongoing construction of the school, suggested Hardy restore the old bikes and set up a bike trail within the seven-hectare school compound that extended to neighboring villages, which would catapult cyclists to the top of the traffic hierarchy.

Hardy was enthusiastic about the idea. Today, two-thirds of the four-kilometer dirt-and-gravel bike trail within the school compound has been completed, while talks with local community organizations are underway. Two of the old bikes are also now roadworthy.

"Our current goal is for everybody working on the school site to use bicycles, and later for the students to use bikes as well," Werner said.

Hardy said the idea was perfect for the school, which promotes ecological and social sustainability. The school is largely being built from bamboo, which is better for the environment than other timber due to its four-year growth period. Classes are to start in the 2008/2009 academic year, commencing in September.

"If we're driving around the campus in cars, it would set a poor example for the community," Hardy said.

He said hopefully the move would inspire more people in Bali to use bicycles.

Site manager Indra said the reaction from local community organizations had so far been very positive.

The Bali chapter of the Bike to Work cycling organization has 150 members, mostly in Denpasar and Badung regency. Bike to Work has 7,000 members nationwide, 4,000 of which are in Jakarta.

Hardy said bike riding was a growing trend among young people: "Young men and some young women are taking to the streets on funny modified bikes, and this has happened only in the last six months," he said.

"Bali is a good place for people to ride to work. Nothing is very far away and the views are extraordinary," Werner said.

The number of private motor vehicles in Bali has continued to increase, contributing to pollution and traffic jams on the resort island. According to Bali Transportation Agency data, there are 1.4 million vehicles in Bali, including 825,000 motorcycles.

People's increasing purchasing power and the lack of cheap and reliable public transportation are responsible for the growing number of private vehicles on Bali's roads.

However, the current trend of rising oil prices might prompt another fuel price increase.

"With the rising price of premium, people might need to rethink their transportation choices," Hardy said.

In Jakarta, the growing number of hard-core cyclists, bustling through the bus-packed streets of Jakarta, has been noticed by government officials, with Governor Fauzi Bowo promising a special lane for bikers.

"It's not the public's fault they rely on motor vehicles, the fault lies with the design of our traffic system. As a cyclist, I see the streets here are only designed for motor vehicles," Werner said.

"That work lies with the designers," he said.

Bus-truck collision in Indonesia kills 10, injures 15

The Jakarta Post

JAKARTA (AP): Ten people were killed and 15 others injured when a truck collided head on Saturday with a packed bus, sending it hurtling into a river in East Java's city of Ngawi, police said.

The accident occurred as the speeding truck changed lanes to miss a pothole in the town of Ngawi in East Java.

The truck slammed into the bus hauling 30 people, then plunged into a river near Ngawi, about 520 kilometers east of Jakarta, said local police Capt. Irfan Susanto.

Six passengers were killed instantly, and four others, including the bus driver, died in nearby hospitals, he said.

Fifteen others were hospitalized with cuts and broken bones. Some remained in critical condition, including the truck driver and a 3-year-old boy, Susanto said.

"It's the most unsafe road in this area due to holes and damaged pavement that has not yet been repaired," Susanto said. "Drivers have to watch out and slow down."

Road accidents are common on Indonesia's crowded highways, where buses and trucks are poorly maintained and traffic laws are often ignored.

Old and diesel-fueled cars fail mandatory emissions testing

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

According to emissions testing conducted recently in the capital, cars operated on diesel or of an older model are most likely to be harming the environment.

Tests supervised by the Jakarta Environment Management Board (BPLHD) in June found that 178 cars out of 512 tested produced an unsuitable level of emissions. Over half of these cars were diesel-fueled.

"We are still trying to establish whether or not higher emissions are caused by poor diesel quality," Yusiono Anwar, head of the BPLHD's air pollution control unit told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Diesel sold around the country has a sulfur content of 3,500 particles per meter (ppm) according to data from the State Ministry for the Environment. This is far higher than the maximum level of 500 ppm set by Euro II's standard of emissions, which was adopted in Jakarta early this year.

Euro II also requires all cars to use a catalytic converter designed to control the amount of pollution emitted from their exhaust systems.

Toll road operator PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada (CMNP) randomly tested the emission levels of 186 private cars traveling on the Sedyatmoko toll road to Tanjung Priok last month.

The tests found that 134 cars met the city's emissions requirements.

"Seventy percent of the cars tested were new. Four cars produced before 1985 failed the test," Darmawan Sembiring of the BPLHD said.

Other random testing was conducted near the South Jakarta Municipality Office last week. Of 326 cars tested, 115 were diesel-fueled and over 40 percent failed to meet the emissions standard.

Emissions testing became mandatory for all private cars in Jakarta after a bylaw was passed on air pollution in 2005.

The bylaw requires private cars to be tested twice a year.

Public transportation vehicles including trucks and busses also must be tested under the regulation.

However, many public transport vehicles in the city continue to produce thick exhaust fumes.

More than 2.5 million private vehicles hit the city's streets every day, many of them from outside Jakarta.

The draft of a gubernatorial decree on emissions testing stipulates that all private cars traveling in the capital, including in Bekasi, Depok, Tangerang and Bogor, must comply with emissions standards set by Jakarta's administration.

The administration has pledged to fully enforce emissions testing by September.

Yusiono said routine maintenance on engines can reduce the level of emissions produced by private cars.

Shell wants clarity on govt rules for sale of subsidized fuels

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The local arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc., PT Shell Indonesia, said Friday that it would require clarification of the government's rules on the sale of subsidized fuels before it would get involved in the sector.

"We welcome the government's plan to encourage new players in the subsidized fuel distribution business, and if the regulations turn out to be appropriate and provide a level playing field, we will be interested," the newly-appointed president director of Shell Indonesia, Darwin Silalahi, told reporters Friday on the sidelines of the launching of the company's corporate social responsibility program, Shell LiveWIRE.

Downstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas) head Tubagus Haryono said recently that his agency was studying the possibility of relaxing the existing regulations so as to allow private sector firms to sell subsidized gasoline, which accounts for about 95 percent of the country's fuel sales.

Without changes to the regulations, it will be difficult for the new players to become involved in the distribution of subsidized fuels.

However, many in the industry doubt that the government is really serious about relaxing the regulations.

The government removed Pertamina's monopoly over the sale of oil-based fuels in 2005, but the state-owned oil and gas firm retains control over the subsidized-fuel market as, according to the government, the new entrants are unable to satisfy the set requirements. As a result, they are currently only allowed to sell non-subsidized high octane fuels.

Subsidized fuels include Premium gasoline, kerosene and diesel used by motorists, households and small businesses.

Besides waiting for clarification over the government's plans for the sale of subsidized fuels, Darwin said that Shell would also need to investigate further its economic feasibility, even though he acknowledged,"it would be a great opportunity for us to carve out a market beyond what we already have."

Shell currently sells non-subsidized fuels under the trade names Shell Super and Shell Super Extra, and high-quality Shell Diesel, in 10 Shell gas stations in Greater Jakarta.

Shell was the first foreign company to enter Indonesia's retail gasoline business. Following Shell's arrival, Malaysian state oil and gas firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas) has also set up shop here and currently operates two gas stations. It plans to open 21 more this year in Jakarta.

A number of global oil giants, including U.S.-based oil company Chevron, and France's oil giant, Total, are in the process of securing licenses from the government. Shell is also set to expand its business by establishing gas stations outside Java

Govt to tighten freight capacity rule

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government plans to tighten the weight limit for trucks in an effort to increase highway safety and reduce road damage.

A spokesman for the Directorate General of Land Transportation at the Transportation Ministry, Djoko Sulaksono, said that while trucks were currently allowed to go over their carrying capacity by 90 percent -- so a truck with a capacity of 1 ton can carry up to 1.9 tons -- this would be reduced to 60 percent.

"In the past we tolerated overweight freighters because of the economy of scale. However, many overweight trucks have damaged roads and bridges across the country," he said Thursday.

He told The Jakarta Post that overweight freighters would now have to go back to their departure point or leave some of their load at warehouses at checking stations equipped with scale floors.

Scale floors, used to weigh vehicles and their cargoes, are installed at 130 checking stations across Indonesia. However, not all stations have warehouses to store excess cargo.

Several scale floors are managed by private companies, which the ministry believes are better at monitoring excess cargo.

"On Saturday, all heads of the provincial transportation agencies will meet in Merak, Banten, to assess progress on the monitoring measure. Of course we'd like to reach 0 percent excess but we have to do it gradually to be effective," Djoko said.

"The transportation chiefs would like to reach 30 percent of tolerance for the next phase if possible."

In 2005, transportation officials met in Bandung to discuss the issue. They all agreed that simultaneous action needed to be taken on overweight inter-province trucks to increase safety and reduce road damage.

"Since the Bandung meeting and greater monitoring efforts, the roads were less damaged this year compared to the years before," Djoko said.

"The Highway Directorate General at the Public Works Ministry has measured that the maximum tolerance our road infrastructure can take is 25 percent."

Djoko added that his office had encouraged companies to use other transportation means, such as rail or sea, although trucks have maintained their popularity because they are able to reach remote areas.

Traffic division head at the Directorate General of Land Transportation Hotma Simanjuntak told the Post that the monitoring was at its busiest in Java and Sumatra. "Trucks planning to drop their loads could call another truck to pick up the cargo at the station," he said.

Previously, Director General of Land Transportation Iskandar Abubakar said that the amendment of the land transportation law should include punishments for truck owners. Currently only truck drivers are fined for overweight trucks.

Mandatory biofuel use necessary, says association

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Biofuel producers are urging the government to make the use of biofuel compulsory in order for the eco-friendly fuel business to become more economically viable.

A member of the Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association Paulus Tjakrawan told The Jakarta Post over the weekend that such a regulation, in which industry players and vehicle owners were required to use a certain amount of biofuel, was needed for the development of the biofuel industry.

Paulus said the Philippines government had been courageous last year when they decided to adopt a similar policy.

"In the first year the biofuel legislation was introduced, every factory and vehicle in the Philippines was required to use at least one percent of biofuel in its fuel usage, and in the second year, that percentage when up to two percent.

"The country has already established a very clear road map, even though they only started the program last year," Paulus said.

Such a move in Indonesia would not harm businesses across the board, Paulus said, as fuel costs would still be quite acceptable.

"In fact, it would bring benefits to companies in that they could create an image of being an environmentally friendly business, which has become quite a selling point these days amid the increasing awareness of environmental and climate issues," he said.

The association also hopes the government will offer incentives in the form of tax relief to biofuel producers.

The president director of biofuel producer PT Eterindo, Immanuel Sutarto, has questioned the feasibility of the biofuel business in the long run, as producers will have to cope with the increasing prices of crude palm oil (CPO) and ethanol, which are two major raw materials used to produce biofuel.

State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina declared last week that the company planned to scrap its biofuel business by the end of this year as its biofuel products -- BioSolar and BioPremium -- caused the company to lose Rp 16.9 billion (approximately US$1.8 million) last year due to increasing ethanol and CPO prices.

Pertamina marketing and trading director Achmad Faisal urged the government to provide financial incentives for producers of ethanol and CPO.

Evita H. Legowo, the first secretary of the National Biofuel Development Committee, said the government was considering halving the tax rate on biofuel used in cars, trucks and motorbikes to 2.5 percent from the current five percent.

Evita also said the government would consider adopting the methods employed by developed countries to promote biofuel usage, such as imposing additional taxes on conventional fuels.

Indonesia is expected to produce 600,000 tons of biofuel this year. Among the major producers are PT Wilmar with a production rate of 350,000 tons per year, Eterindo with 120,000 tons per year and PT Sugar Group with 70,000 tons per year.

Why fixate on toll roads when there are railroads?

The Jakarta Post

Ari Pitoyo, Head of Research

Indonesia's new transportation minister has set railway transportation development as a priority. How far do we need to go?

Discussion on infrastructure usually circles around road infrastructure, especially toll roads. However progress in this area so far has been lackluster. What about railroads?

Here are some statistics. The total length of railroad tracks around Indonesia is only 4,500 kilometers, of which around 14 percent (small-width tracks) are 70-130 years old and 45 percent (medium-width tracks) are 60-100 years old.

Only the remaining 59 percent are relatively new.

Data on locomotives are also less than encouraging. To date there are 519 locomotives, of which most have reportedly passed their economic lives. As for the cars, data from the website of state railway operator PT KAI show that 44 percent of cargo cars are 16-30 years old and 31 percent are 31-40 years old.

So the huge number of rail accidents recorded each year should not come as any surprise.

In the last 12 years, there was an average of nine accidents per year.

But the potential is huge. Railroad infrastructure is less complicated compared to toll roads. There are no meaningful land acquisition problems, as railroad tracks are government property.

The responsibility of railroad infrastructure development falls to the government. According to the 1992 railroad law, railroad tracks, signals and bridges are government owned. The government can delegate the maintenance to appointed institutions.

But maintenance is minimal. Liputan6.com reported that the cost of required maintenance reaches Rp 6.6 trillion. What's the problem? Comments we gathered mostly point toward lack of funds. One House of Representatives member said that since 1950, 29.3 kilometers of railroad track are rendered unusable each year.

The number of train stations has dropped 62 percent, and six units of locomotives per year are going out of operation. This decline in operational assets happened despite a 9.3 percent growth of passengers per year.

PT KAI suffers fund shortages from the current budget arrangement with the government. PT KAI is required by the government to promptly pay fees for the usage of railroad tracks, however payment from the government to PT KAI for Public Service Obligations (PSO) is untimely; accumulated delays since 2000 have reportedly reached Rp 1.6 trillion.

PT KAI also has not been paid for the maintenance it did for railroad tracks and other government-owned assets. So if accidents happen, should the responsibility be borne only by PT KAI's management and its machinists?

The House of Representatives recently approved revisions to the 1992 railroad law. These revisions open the possibility for new players to join the domestic railroad business, which is now exclusive to PT KAI. However, considering the badly tattered infrastructure, we think investors will not instantly jump onto the bandwagon.

Who will be held responsible if an accident occurs? Who will be in charge of the investigation? And who will ensure that the investigators are unbiased?

Here then is the irony. We believe railroads are easier to improve compared to toll roads, and the benefits are also huge. As a mode of transportation, railroads have several advantages, namely speed and capacity. A train with eight cars can carry up to 1,200 people, equal to 16 buses with 75 people/unit capacity.

A dedicated track would improve speed and also safety. In many countries, railroads are the backbone of public transportation.

Contrary to toll road development, which aside from needing massive capital, has to face additional problems such as land acquisition, all that is needed for railroad development is government commitment and funds.

Funds, we also believe, are not difficult to obtain, given the abundance of global liquidity.

Of course return on investment needs to be adequate. However, we believe several factors do make returns on railroad investment more attractive: (1) no land acquisition is required; and (2) much of the supporting infrastructure, such as stations and signaling equipment, are already built and only need improvement.

Railroads are also a labor-intensive business, thus may help create employment opportunities.

One ironic case of neglect are the problems in container transportation from Bandung to Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta. Currently, containers transported by rail from container terminals in Bandung can not be directly transported to the ships at Tanjung Priok harbor, and have to stop at a station near Tanjung Priok and then be reloaded onto trucks to be brought to ships.

The problem is that 35 people now live on the land owned by PT Pelindo, a state-owned port operator. Potential: in 2004, the service carried 7,602 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units), and in 2006 that amount grew 21 percent to 9,235 TEUs.

Thus in this case, development is being held hostage by 35 people who do not even have a right to the land in the first place.

Clearly, railroad improvements can not be categorized as a challenge; but inaction can be categorized as neglect.

Van drivers strike for better road

The Jakarta Post

BEKASI: Public minivan drivers in Bekasi went on strike Wednesday, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded.

The drivers, from six routes in the municipality, demanded the local administration repair the severely damaged road connecting Jl. Raya Pekayon and Pondok Gede.

Drivers said the potholes along the 12-kilometer strip had cut down the number of trips they could do each day.

"We've lost two trips per day ... We usually took two hours for one trip, now it's three hours," Yayat, a driver, was quoted as saying by Tempointeraktif.com.

The strike forced Asrul, student of state junior high school SMPN 35 in Jati Mekar, Pondok Gede, to hitch a ride on a platform truck.

"It's cheaper taking an ojek (motorcycle taxi), which costs Rp 15,000 to get to school," he said.

The student concession fare for public minivans is Rp 2,000.

The administration started to cover the potholes yesterday afternoon in response to the protest.

Eco-driving campaign to cut emissions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The clean air campaign group Swisscontact has stepped-up its effort to promote environmentally friendly driving in order to cut car emissions, the main contributor to Jakarta's air pollution.

The group's campaign officer, Tory Damantoro, said the company will perform training in so-called "eco-driving" techniques for drivers working in the private transport company Hiba Utama.

"In the first stage, we will train 100 Hiba Utama drivers, starting in May," Tory told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Hiba Utama currently operates around 2,000 passenger buses.

Eco-driving was first promoted in Indonesia by Swisscontact last year when the group trained 50 truck drivers from the publicly listed cement maker PT Holcim Indonesia.

Tory said truck drivers using eco-driving techniques could save fuel consumption by up to 10 to 15 percent.

"With small improvements in driving style, drivers can save significantly on fuel consumption and cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (CO2)," he said.

"So if 3 million cars traveling across the city applied eco-driving techniques, there would be an energy saving of Rp 400 billion per year. It's an easier way to clean the city's air," he said.

Eco-driving techniques have been developed in several European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and Switzerland since the mid-1990s.

The British government is now planning to make eco-driving training a requirement for obtaining a driver's license.

Swisscontact has long pushed the Jakarta administration to clean the city's air.

The organization's massive campaigns led the administration to issue a bylaw on air pollution control requiring, among other measures, compulsory emissions tests for all private cars.

The bylaw also makes the use of more eco-friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) compulsory for all public transport.

However, the bylaw has not come into full effect due to poor law enforcement.

The administration has also tried to discourage people from driving private cars into the city by increasing parking fees and improving busway services.

The administration also plans to implement electronic road pricing this year to substitute the current three-in-one lane system.

Experts have said emissions from road vehicles contribute to up to 70 percent of the city's air pollution.

Tory said his company would analyze CO2 emission reductions resulting from the eco-driving program.

"If possible, we will develop the eco-driving style to reap money from the clean development mechanism (CDM)," he said.

The CDM is part of Indonesia's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, which allows developing nations to trade carbon credits gained through reduced emissions.

A ton of reduced CO2 emission is currently valued at between US$5 and $10.

Eco-driving Tips:

1. Anticipate the traffic, look as far ahead as possible 2. Drive smoothly and at a constant speed 3. Change gears economically, shift up gears quickly 4. Stay in higher gears with lower engine RPM (revolutions per minute) whenever possible 5. Coast a lot 6. Decelerate smoothly 7. Avoid breaking abruptly 8. Use engine breaking

Source: Swisscontact

Hyundai to produce trucks and buses in Indonesia

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - South Korean automotive giant Hyundai will start producing trucks and buses in Indonesia as of March this year with an investment of US$23 million.

"Hyundai is growing confident it will produce trucks and buses in Indonesia after the government decided to stop importing used cars starting this year," the director general of transport industry and telemathics of the ministry of industry, Budi Darmadi, said here on Friday.

He said Hyundai in cooperation with Korindo Group would set up PT Kostramas Jaya in the building of trucks of above 8.5 Gross Vehicle Weight and large buses.

The new plant which will be built in Balaraja, Tangerang, Banten, West Java, will have a capacity of producing around 300 buses and 200 trucks a month.

He said the US23 million investment would only be for building the plant and providing production facilities. "It excludes funds for land procurement, because the land would be provided by Korindo," he said.

He said Hyundai has a highly prospective market in Indonesia for its trucks and buses following the government`s decision to stop the import of used cars, and in view of the country`s high economic growth rate.

"We hope besides trucks and buses Hyundai would also produce passengers cars in Indonesia," he said.

So far the cars produced by Hyundai in Indonesia included Atoz, Accent and Trajet cars. He hoped Hyundai would increase its investment in Indonesia following an increase in market share for smaller cars.

"We continued contacting Hyundai suggesting them to raise their investment in Indonesia," he said.

In November last year, the Indonesian minister of industry visited South Korea to discuss investment in passenger car production.

Budi said he was optimistic that the automotive market in Indonesia would further develop. He also believed demands for cars would reach 400,000 units this year after dropping last year to around 300,000 only.

"We are optimistic sales would reach 500,000 units by the end of 2008 like in 2005," he said.

Jakarta urged to decentralize

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two former ministers for the environment have called on the city administration to relocate some activities from the capital to peripheral areas in order to curb pollution.

Emil Salim and Sarwono Kusumaatmaja both spoke Friday during the book launch of Jakarta, Kota Polusi (Jakarta, a polluted city).

Emil, who served in president Suharto's cabinet, said that the relocation of a number of offices and public services to outside Jakarta in the past had significantly contributed to reducing traffic congestion in the city.

The airport and the biggest state university have both been outside of Jakarta for some time.

In the 1980s the central government decided to build the new Soekarno-Hatta International Airport outside the city, in Cengkareng, Banten province, to replace the old Kemayoran airport in Central Jakarta, which was rapidly becoming a residential area.

Overcrowding in Salemba, Central Jakarta, was also behind the decision to build a University of Indonesia campus on the outskirts of Jakarta in Depok.

"Why don't the authorities apply the (relocation) concept to control air pollution here? It will trim the volume of commuters coming into the city," Emil said.

"If shopping malls, for example, are pushed to peripheral areas, people won't shop in Jakarta. Thus, fewer cars will enter the city's streets."

Shopping malls built in downtown areas contributed much to the air pollution, Emil said.

"All shopping malls offer large parking lots in order to encourage car owners to shop. They trigger more traffic jams in the city," he said.

Emil also proposed the development of Tanjung Priok Port could be extended to other provinces of Banten or West Java to reduce cars or trucks from the two provinces crossing through Jakarta.

The exhaust from gasoline-guzzling private cars contribute up to 80 percent of the air pollution in the city.

Meanwhile, Sarwono who was also a minister in the New Order era, said the realization of the megacity concept could be an important step to controlling air pollution in the city.

"Many cars traveling in the capital are from outside Jakarta. Thus, to create cleaner air, we must remove the main source of pollution from vehicles' emissions. Jakarta then can then extend public transportation to megacity areas to reduce the use of private cars," he said.

The megacity will incorporate Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, Puncak and part of Cianjur in one integrated area, to be known as Jabodetabekpunjur.

The administration says that at least 660,000 cars from Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, Puncak and Cianjur enter Jakarta every day.

The large number of commuters has worsened traffic congestion, particularly at peak hours. Several attempts have been made to address the situation, including the imposition of the three-in-one traffic policy, increased parking fees and the introduction of the busway service. Traffic congestion and air pollution remain high.

Jakarta currently operates three busway corridors and will launch another four corridors next week, all of them operating in the Jakarta area.

However, the administration recently also announced that they would build six inner-city turnpikes to create more spaces for motorists, a plan that was called counterproductive to the clean air campaign by environmentalists.

Emil said the planned turnpikes would only encourage people to drive their cars and would at the end worsen the environment.

"As the traffic increases, the administration builds turnpikes. It will then encourage people to buy the cars. The administration must stop this practice. They must promote public transportation," he said.

There are currently at least 2.5 million private cars and 3.8 million motorcycles in the city every day, but only 255,000 public transportation vehicles.

The number of private cars is expected to increase by 12 percent a year, which would far outweigh the number of roads being built. Complete gridlock by 2014 has been predicted if steps are not taken to improve the situation.