The role of maritime logistics systems in the Indonesian economy : a value chain perspective
Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Maritime Affairs
Specialization
Ph.D (Maritime Affairs)
Campus
Malmö, Sweden
Abstract
Indonesia relies heavily on its maritime logistics systems for the transportation of goods across the vast archipelago. Acknowledging the strategic importance of these systems for economic development, the Indonesian government has developed and enacted a range of strategies aimed at strengthening the maritime logistics sector. Nevertheless, the precise economic contribution of these maritime logistics initiatives to Indonesia’s economy remains undetermined. The inability to quantify the economic impact of maritime logistics consequently impedes effective performance monitoring and complicates future planning initiatives. Such a situation underscores the need for a comprehensive understanding of Indonesian maritime logistics systems, focusing on the complex interplay among key actors such as freight forwarders, port terminal operators, and shipping lines. This study utilizes value chain perspectives to simply outline the complex nature of the systems by delineating the interlinked logistics activities of maritime logistics actors that are expected to create value for the economy. In light of the aforementioned context, a conceptual framework is developed through a comprehensive and systematic literature review to critically analyze the role of maritime logistics systems in the national economy from a value chain perspective. This framework positions maritime logistics systems as a subset of the national logistics systems. It further identifies the key players and their value-adding activities and clarifies how these systems contribute to national economic development through the lens of the value chain. Following this conceptual framework, the study transitions to an empirical investigation, applying system dynamics to a case study at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia. This port plays a crucial role in Indonesian maritime logistics systems as it handles around 60% of the nation’s container traffic movement. The system dynamics model is developed around the value-adding activities, recognizing these activities as fundamental to the process of value creation. These activities include inland transportation and warehousing management carried out by freight forwarders, seaside operations, transit and storage processes, landside operations executed by port terminal operators, and container transport among ports managed by shipping lines. Upon the completion of the validation phase, this study conducts a series of simulations to rigorously assess the impact of enhancing individual value-adding activities of maritime logistics actors on economic development, as measured by the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth. Additionally, an integrative approach has been introduced to assess the impact of simultaneous improvements across all value-adding activities. The results of the empirical investigation reveal two key findings: (i) the integrative improvement strategy yields higher GRDP growth in comparison to the targeted enhancement of individual value-adding activities (ii) based on the observed impact of these activities on GRDP growth, the Indonesian government and maritime logistics service providers should prioritize interventions in the following sequence: first, seaside operations, followed by inland transportation, warehousing management, transporting containers among ports, landside operations, and finally, transit and storage processes. This line of research offers an original contribution to knowledge in three significant ways. First, it offers a scientific examination of the role of maritime logistic systems play in the national economy, specifically within the Indonesian context. Second, it employs system dynamics to empirically investigate value creation within maritime logistics as an integrated system. Finally, this study contributes valuable insights for both policymakers and maritime logistics service providers by offering strategic guidance to identify and prioritize initiatives at fortifying the value creation of maritime logistics systems, thereby leading to economic prosperity for the nation.
Comments
ISBN: 978-91-990758-7-7