Samudera and Meratus lead Indonesia’s top container carriers

Indonesian carriers play a vital role in connecting the country’s vast archipelago, with Samudera and Meratus leading the market by deployed capacity, according to Alphaliner.

Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic state, with about 17,000 islands stretched across roughly 5,000 km between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

With more than 280 million people, the world’s fourth-largest population, Indonesia relies on the sea to move food, fuel and goods between densely populated islands such as Java and remote communities in the country’s eastern provinces.

Domestic shipping is central to keeping the nation’s economy connected, while international services link the country to key deep-sea hubs in the region. More recently, Indonesia has also attracted direct shipping links to China, India and the Middle East.

Indonesia sits on some of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints, including the Malacca, Sunda, Lombok and Makassar straits, which carry a large share of trade between Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Given the country’s large population and archipelagic character, Indonesia’s main ports are served by many of the world’s major shipping lines. In addition to these, a number of Indonesian carriers play a vital role in the market. In this context, Alphaliner has taken a look at Indonesia’s main container lines, a sector in which five domestic and regional carriers stand out.

Samudera tops the league of Indonesian carriers with a fleet of about 45,000 teu. However, more than 90% of Samudera’s operated capacity is deployed on international routes rather than in the Indonesian domestic trade.

Meratus follows in second place with just under 44,000 teu. Despite its slightly smaller capacity, Meratus operates the most vessels, at 66 units. In contrast to Samudera, this Surabaya-headquartered carrier currently deploys only about 16% of its capacity on international regional loops.

Among the Top-5 Indonesian carriers, only Samudera and Meratus deploy vessels on international liner services, while the other three, Tanto Intim Line (39,000+ teu), Salam Pacific Indonesia Lines (SPIL, 31,500+ teu) and Temas (almost 18,000 teu), remain focused on Indonesia’s domestic inter-island trade.

Source: Alphaliner