On Wednesday (3/11), Garuda Indonesia, the flag carrier, signed cooperation to expand export commodity transportation services with the North Sulawesi Provincial Government (Pemprov Sulut) as a form of optimizing synergy in efforts to recover the regional economy, especially North Sulawesi through the provision and improvement of services logistics distribution of leading export commodities from North Sulawesi.

The signing of the cooperation is a follow-up to the agreement between the two parties that have been implemented since last October as an effort to increase the export value of North Sulawesi Province, especially through the trade and industrial sectors.

The signing of the expansion of the cooperation was carried out directly by the Director of Services and Commercial of Garuda Indonesia Ade R. Susardi together with the Head of the Industry and Trade Office of North Sulawesi Province Edwin Kindangen, located at Garuda Indonesia's head office at Soekarno Hatta International Airport.

Through the expansion of this partnership, Garuda Indonesia will support direct export activities through the transportation of cargo export commodities with projected transportation of 1000 tons of cargo consisting of maritime commodities, especially tuna and North Sulawesi agricultural products including shallots, palm sugar, and including chrysanthemum cultivation which will be flown to Narita, Japan in stages until the period of November 2022.

The shipment of North Sulawesi's leading export commodities will be served by Garuda Indonesia through a cargo flight only route for Manado - Narita cargo which is scheduled to depart from Manado's Sam Ratulangi International Airport every Wednesday, 23.40 local time and arrive at Narita International Airport at 06.35 local time using A330-200 aircraft which has a transport capacity of up to 30 tons on each flight.

The CEO of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra said that the expansion of the cooperation was a realization of the commitment of Garuda Indonesia and the Pemprov Sulut in optimizing their contribution to efforts to accelerate national economic recovery, especially in the North Sulawesi region. "As the flag carrier of the nation, it is certainly a matter of pride for us to be able to contribute in presenting a cargo delivery network for national superior commodities to the world market, in this case, North Sulawesi, which is known as one of the largest fresh tuna producing regions in Indonesia."

"During Semester 1 - 2021 the Manado - Narita cargo flight route served by Garuda Indonesia managed to record a total tonnage of 317 tons, of which the transportation came from top export commodities from Manado and other Eastern Indonesia regions," said Irfan.

Irfan continued, with a shorter delivery time without having to transit at several flight hubs, the quality and freshness of these export commodity products will be better maintained, of course with more competitive logistics costs, so that the presence of cargo flights is expected to further improve quality competitiveness. Indonesian maritime commodity products.