During 2024, Bitung Container Terminal (TPK) saw a significant increase in the performance of its international export-import services, marking a substantial growth of 166.32% compared to the 3,566 TEUs recorded in the previous year. The primary export items were paper and coconut. The Operations Management Manager (Plh) TPK Bitung Muhammad Habibi has revealed that the increase in export-import services resulted from a surge in ship visits, rising from 306 to 391, marking a 27.78% increase. The growth observed in the industrial sector of Bitung was a contributing factor to the expansion of international services, as evidenced by the surge in imports of iron and waste paper. Waste paper exports are destined for China, Vietnam and several other countries. The 2024 performance figures show a total of 5,026 exports and 4,471 TEUs of imports. Meanwhile, in the first quarter of 2025, international services reached 2,023 TEUs, consisting of 588 TEUs of imports and 1,435 TEUs of exports.
Habibi aspires to make TPK Bitung the main trade gateway for the Eastern region, given its strategic location with well-developed dock facilities. TPK Bitung offers international service performance direct to China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh, with SITC ships calling at TPK Bitung every week to Makassar Port. The region's export market share, calculated based on market value, features notable transactions with China reaching USD 30.93 million, followed by Brazil at USD 11.88 million and the United States at USD 9.26 million. The following countries include the Philippines, the Netherlands, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Vietnam, and Japan. The Asian market share is 60.8%, while non-Asian markets account for 39.2%. Recently, Deputy Governor of North Sulawesi Victor Mailangkay at TPK Bitung conducted exports of 213.75 tonnes of commodities, with a value of IDR 13.36 billion, to the United States, Switzerland, and Saudi Arabia for canned tuna commodities, and China for coconut water concentrate. Also, other processed coconut products are exported to Russia, Italy and China, as well as nutmeg flowers to India.
