A port-integrated industrial estate puts the factory and the berth inside one fence, and the case for it is usually made with adjectives. This page makes it with arithmetic. We model one tenant, a manufacturer moving 20,000 TEU a year, at three distances from the berth: 5 km, 30 km and 100 km. Every assumption is published in a table so you can replace it with your own number and see whether the conclusion survives.
We develop a port-integrated estate in North Sumatra, so we have an interest in the answer. That is the reason to show the working rather than the result.
Last updated: 13 October 2026
What a Port-Integrated Industrial Estate Is
An inland industrial park sells serviced land and leaves the port to someone else. A port-integrated industrial estate is planned around its own berth, so cargo moves between plant and ship by pipeline, conveyor or a short internal road without passing through a public port gate. Operating examples in Indonesia are few, because the model needs coastal land, a dredgeable channel and a developer willing to build a port before the tenants arrive.
Our model of logistics cost in Indonesia puts numbers on that distance, tonne by tonne, for a bulk cargo. An estate with its own berth controls the one variable an inland park cannot: how many kilometres, gates and handovers sit between the production line and the ship’s manifold. Our guide to industrial parks in Indonesia sets out the estate types; this page is about one number, the cost of that distance, for an integrated industrial estate against the alternatives.
Why Distance to Berth Is a Cost Line
Indonesia’s logistics cost runs at about 14.29% of GDP, and the government’s stated target is to bring it to 8%, which is the level of comparable economies, according to the Ministry of Transportation. The World Bank’s 2023 Logistics Performance Index scores Indonesia 3.0 out of 5, down from 3.15 in 2018, against 3.7 for Malaysia, 3.5 for Thailand and 3.3 for Vietnam, in an analysis of the 2023 index. The gap is not at sea. Ocean freight from Belawan costs what it costs from Port Klang. The gap is on land, between the factory and the quay.
Four line items carry it, and each one grows with distance:
- Trucking. The obvious one. Longer hauls cost more per trip, and a truck that completes one round trip a day costs four times as much per container as one that completes four.
- Demurrage and detention. Shipping lines give a few free days to return a container, then charge by the day. Longer and less reliable hauls push more boxes past the free window.
- Inventory carrying cost. Every day of transit variability is a day of stock a plant must hold to protect the ship or the line. That stock has a cost of capital, and a common planning convention puts total carrying cost at 20 to 30% of inventory value a year.
- Damage and loss. More kilometres and more handovers mean more claims.
Average import dwell time at Indonesia’s main ports fell to 3.02 days in 2025 from 3.52 the year before, according to the Finance Ministry. That is time inside the port, which an estate cannot change. The model below is about the time and cost outside it.
If you want to run these numbers against a specific plot, request current land availability and our investment team will come with the distances and the plot options.
The Model: One Tenant, Three Sites
The tenant is a manufacturer shipping 20,000 TEU a year through Belawan or a comparable port, with cargo worth US$20,000 per container. Site A is 5 km from the berth, inside a port-integrated estate. Site B is 30 km away, which is roughly an urban estate on the Medan side of the port. Site C is 100 km away, an inland park. Everything else is held equal.
| Assumption | Value used | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Annual volume | 20,000 TEU (loaded moves) | Tenant profile in the plan |
| Cargo value | US$20,000 per TEU | Assumption; mid-value manufactured or processed goods |
| Exchange rate | Rp16,500 per US$ | Assumption, October 2026 |
| Trucking cost per container move | Rp600,000 fixed per trip plus Rp12,000 per round-trip kilometre | Fixed element for gate, handling and driver time; per-km rate from the middle of published 2026 heavy-truck rates of Rp10,000 to Rp19,000 |
| Containers exceeding free days | 2% at A, 8% at B, 20% at C | Assumption, rising with haul length and truck availability |
| Extra days beyond free time | 2 at A, 3 at B, 4 at C | Assumption |
| Charge per extra day | US$40 blended 20′ and 40′ | Within the Maersk Indonesia tariff: 5 free days, then US$30 to US$100 a day for a 20′ and US$50 to US$120 for a 40′ |
| Pipeline stock held for transit variability | 1 day at A, 2 at B, 4 at C | Assumption |
| Inventory carrying cost | 25% of cargo value a year | Mid-point of the 20 to 30% convention |
| Damage and loss | 0.05% at A, 0.10% at B, 0.20% at C of cargo value | Assumption, scaling with handovers |
The trucking line is the only one with a market input, and even that is a range. The three behavioural assumptions, how many containers miss the free window, how much buffer stock the plant holds and how much cargo is damaged, are the ones to replace with your own records.
The Results
With those inputs, the landed cost of distance per container and per year comes out as follows.
| Cost line (US$ per TEU) | A: 5 km | B: 30 km | C: 100 km |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trucking | 43.6 | 80.0 | 181.8 |
| Demurrage and detention exposure | 1.6 | 9.6 | 32.0 |
| Inventory carrying | 13.7 | 27.4 | 54.8 |
| Damage and loss | 10.0 | 20.0 | 40.0 |
| Total per TEU | 68.9 | 137.0 | 308.6 |
| Total per year, 20,000 TEU | US$1.38 million | US$2.74 million | US$6.17 million |
| Premium over the 5 km site, per year | US$1.36 million | US$4.79 million | |
| Premium over 20 years, undiscounted | US$27 million | US$96 million |
Three things in the table are worth more than the totals.
First, trucking is about 60% of the cost at every site, so the result is not an artefact of the softer assumptions. Halve the trucking rate and set demurrage to zero, and the inland site still costs about US$3.7 million a year against US$0.9 million at the integrated site.
Second, the fleet effect is where distance bites hardest. At 67 container moves a working day, a truck that turns four trips at 5 km needs a fleet of about 17; at 30 km with two trips it needs 34; at 100 km with one trip it needs 67. The daily hire is the same truck; the output is not.
Third, the 30 km case is the one most tenants actually face, because most estates near a port are near it in the way Medan is near Belawan: close enough to look convenient, far enough to pay a premium of about US$68 a container.
What the Model Leaves Out
A model that only counts what favours the estate is marketing. This one leaves out four things, and two of them cut the other way.
- Land price and service charge. A port-integrated estate can charge more for a plot. The premium the model finds is the budget available to pay for one, not proof that every integrated estate is worth it.
- Operational readiness. An inland park with a working power connection today beats a planned berth that does not exist yet, until the berth exists. Status, not geography, decides the first years.
- Port tariffs and sea freight. Held equal, because they are. A ship does not care how far the cargo travelled by road.
- Shared berth congestion. A public berth with a queue adds days the model does not count; a private berth with no queue removes them. Our guide to bulk terminal operations explains how berth productivity turns into waiting time.
Bulk cargo makes the gap wider, not narrower. A container moves by truck at any distance; crude palm oil and chemicals move by pipeline only if the plant is within pipeline reach of the tank farm, and the alternative is a tanker truck, a heated tank at each end and a measurement at every transfer.
How to Run It for Your Own Site
Take the assumptions table, replace the cargo value with your average invoice per container, the trucking rate with the quote you have, and the three behavioural lines with your own claims and detention history. Then put the real distances in: not to the port gate, but to the berth your cargo type uses, because the container terminal, the liquid berth and the dry bulk wharf are rarely in the same place.
If the premium that comes out is smaller than the land and service-charge difference you are quoted, the inland park wins on cost. If it is larger, the integrated estate does. Either way, the fourteen questions in our due diligence checklist for an industrial estate in Indonesia tell you whether the distance a developer quotes is the one you will drive.
Where SIIPE Stands
SIIPE (Sumalacca Integrated Industrial and Port Estate) is a planned 5,600-hectare integrated industrial estate, deep seaport and township in Medan Belawan, North Sumatra. Around 840 hectares is acquired and the remaining 4,760 hectares still has to be acquired or reclaimed. The current development phase covers 3,000 hectares: 1,800 ha industrial estate, 400 ha deep seaport and 800 ha residential township.
Two distances define its case. The site is 4.7 km from the Port of Belawan, about 10 minutes by road, which is the Site A position in the model today, against an operating public port. And the masterplan designs every plot to sit under 5 km from the estate’s own berth at the Sumalacca Dry & Liquid Bulk Port, which is planned, not operational, and a medium-term objective on our roadmap. Estate utilities are planned as well, and we quote no connected capacity.
That is the trade, stated the way the model states it. Against an inland park that is operating today, SIIPE offers the 5 km position to an existing port now, and the pipeline-and-berth position to its own port when it is built. Against an integrated estate already operating on Java, it offers the same model on the island that produces the cargo, with the status gap that comes from being earlier. Which of those matters more is a question about your timeline, and we would rather you answered it with the arithmetic than with our adjectives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a port integrated industrial estate?
A port-integrated industrial estate is an industrial estate planned around its own berth, so plants ship and receive cargo by pipeline, conveyor or a short internal road without passing through a public port gate. Operating examples in Indonesia are few; SIIPE in Medan Belawan is a planned one.
How much does distance from the port cost a manufacturer?
In our published model, a tenant shipping 20,000 TEU a year pays about US$69 per container in trucking, detention exposure, inventory carrying and damage at 5 km from the berth, US$137 at 30 km and US$309 at 100 km. The annual premium over the integrated site is US$1.4 million at 30 km and US$4.8 million at 100 km.
What is Indonesia’s logistics cost as a share of GDP?
The Ministry of Transportation puts Indonesia’s logistics cost at about 14.29% of GDP, against a government target of 8%, the level of comparable economies. The World Bank’s 2023 Logistics Performance Index scores Indonesia 3.0 out of 5, below Malaysia at 3.7, Thailand at 3.5 and Vietnam at 3.3.
What are demurrage and detention charges in Indonesia?
Shipping lines allow a number of free days to return a container and then charge daily. Maersk’s Indonesia import tariff, effective July 2024, gives 5 free days, then US$30 to US$100 a day for a 20′ container and US$50 to US$120 for a 40′, rising in tiers the longer the box is held.
Is SIIPE’s port operational?
No. The Sumalacca Dry & Liquid Bulk Port is planned, not built, and is a medium-term objective on the SIIPE roadmap. Today the estate’s logistics position rests on its distance to the operating Port of Belawan, 4.7 km or about 10 minutes by road, with plots designed to sit under 5 km from the planned berth.
Request Land Availability at SIIPE
If the model puts your plant within reach of a berth, the next step is a plot. Tell us your industry, whether you need under 5 hectares, 5 to 20, 20 to 50 or more than 50, and your investment timeline, and we will reply with current availability and indicative terms. SIIPE is a planned 5,600-hectare estate in Medan Belawan with a current 3,000-hectare development phase, around 840 hectares acquired, and a site 4.7 km from Belawan Port; its port and utilities are planned rather than operational, and we will say so in every reply.
Request land availability through the enquiry form, or message us on WhatsApp at +62 811 860 980.
