Indonesia's shipping industry has demanded the London market's Joint War Committee (JWC) remove all sea areas in the country from its list of war-risk zones, a newspaper said Tuesday.

The industry wants off the list to cut the high insurance premium surcharge that currently must be paid for shipments through these areas.

The Indonesian National Shipowners Association (INSA) saw the cost of the premium surcharge, which reached between 3,000 U.S. dollars and 4,000 dollars per week, was a burden for the local shipping industry, especially for the freight owners who had to cover it, reported The Jakarta Post.

"We want the status of these sea areas changed so that the additional premium charged by marine hull underwriters on ships transiting in Indonesian waters can be eliminated," INSA chairman Oentoro Surya was quoted as saying.

Oentoro said the INSA was cooperating with the ASEAN Shipowners Associations FASA to achieve the delisting of all areas in Indonesia included in the JWC's war-risk list.

The FASA and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently worked together to have the Strait of Malacca removed from the war-risk list.

A letter was sent to the JWC through the chairman of the ASEAN Maritime Transportation Working Goup and the chairman of the ASEAN Senior Transportation Official Meeting, demanding the exclusion of the strait from the list.

On Aug. 7, the JWC reviewed its listed areas and agreed to delete the Strait of Malacca, but added the north-east coast of Sumatra island (excluding transit) to the list.

According to the JWC's list as of August, areas in Indonesia where war, strikes, terrorism and related perils can occur are: the island of Ambon, Balikpapan port, the north-east coast of Kalimantan, Jakarta port, Poso port and the north-east coast of Sumatra.

Other ASEAN countries with areas on the JWC war-risk list are Malaysia and the Philippines.

"We are very grateful for the deletion of Malacca Strait but I think the JWC is still being picky. We want the JWC to remove all areas in Indonesia from the list because it gives a negative image for the industry," Oentoro said.

Source: Xinhua