Indonesia: AEO certification accelerates air freight

With almost 273 million inhabitants, Indonesia is one of the most populous countries in the world after China, India and the USA – and a large growth market. Import volumes from Europe are increasing. "There is strong demand for vaccines and chocolate, for example," reports Kristian Sabitzki, Managing Director Indonesia at a. hartrodt in Jakarta. What particularly pleases him is that a. hartrodt received AEO certification (Authorized Economic Operator) in the Southeast Asian island state in August 2019. "The time saved at the customs queue can be up to several hours if the customer is also AEO-certified. In addition, we also have a special contact person at customs if problems arise," says Sabitzki.

Few freight forwarders have AEO certification

Only a few freight forwarders in Indonesia have been AEO-certified so far, because the procedure requires a lot of patience. At a. hartrodt it took four to five years. "The Indonesian government prefers AEO certification for exporters and leaves other applications, such as those from freight forwarders, aside for the time being," explains Sabitzki. Born in Duisburg, he has been working in the country for nine years and since then he has had to cope with "ever new requirements" from customs.

500 square meter aircargo warehouse

The AEO certification was carried out in the air freight warehouse of a. hartrodt at the Soekarno-Hatta International Jakarta Airport (Cengkareng) in Tangerang. The 500 square meter rented facility for import shipments includes a cold storage room with temperatures up to 18 degrees Celsius for pharmaceuticals and food. "We mainly serve domestic customers with up to several hundred deliveries per month," says Sabitzki. By 2018, the warehouse area was doubled. a. hartrodt handles air freight imports at the air cargo hub primarily with carriers such as Garuda Indonesia, Turkish Airlines, Etihad Airways or Cargolux.

For more than 20 years, a. hartrodt has been represented on the Indonesian market with today around 140 employees. In addition to the airport location, the headquarters of the national organization is also located in the capital. There are also branches in Semarang and Surabaya on Java, in Batam south of Singapore and in Balikpapan on Borneo.