Titan Infra Sejahtera Boosts Cost Efficiency Iinitiatives

In a bid to provide more benefits for all stakeholders, PT Titan Infra Sejahtera (TIS), an integrated coal infrastructure provider in South Sumatra Province, keep improving the pit-to-port operational efficiency. The company improves the hauling road quality and expands the capacity of the coal port not only cuts the operational costs but also provides more reliable coal logistic services for customers.

Titan Infra Sejahtera owns two subsidiaries, namely PT Servo Lintas Raya (SLR) and PT Swarnadwipa Dermaga Jaya (SDJ). SLR operates118 km coal hauling road, while SDJ operates coal port in Musi River. These companies provide coal logistic services for coal producers in Muara Enim and Lahat Regencies, South Sumatra.

South Sumatra Province has abundant coal reserves at 9.3 billion tons. This amount is 25 percent of the national coal reserves, which reach 37.6 billion tons. The concentration of coal deposit in South Sumatra is in three districts, namely Muara Enim, Lahat, and Pali. In Muara Enim alone, there are at least 29 coal mining business licenses holders.

“We are upgrading the coal hauling road with chipseal as the current gravel road requires quite expensive maintenance cost. We have built chipseal road for operational trial and the result is satisfactory,” Suryo Suwignyo, President Director of PT Titan Infra Sejahtera (TIS), said to CoalMetal Asia Magz, recently.

Hauling road infrastructure represents a vital component of operational logistics. Over time these roads are subject to progressive deterioration, primarily driven by high-frequency and heavy-load traffic. Structural degradation including: cracking, rutting, and surface deformation which comprises the road’s load bearing capacity and longevity. Functional deterioration, which affect ride quality, vehicle stability, hauling cost and overall safety.

Gravel hauling road has several disadvantages, including the higher maintenance costs as SLR has to regularly maintain the road by procuring a lot of road materials each month. Due to the daily heavy-duty utilization and harsh weather in the region, the gravel road is easily damaged and need to be maintained for proper use.

Hence, Suryo stated that Titan Infra Sejahtera decided to gradually upgrade the 118 km hauling road of SLR and it will eventually all sections of SLR’s hauling road will have chipseal road. “It significantly cuts the trip duration by half when we use chipseal hauling road from 7-8 hours to about 3-4 hours per trip,” he said adding that the company expected that SLR’s hauling road is going to be fullychipsealby the mid-2027.

Titan Infra Sejahtera currently serves coal logistic services for eight coal producers in the region, including PT Bukit Asam Tbk, PT Mustika Indah Permai (MIP), a subsidiary company of PT Adaro Andalan Indonesia Tbk, PT Manambang Muara Enim (MME) and PT Duta Bara Utama (DBU).

“Shorter duration to transport coal via our hauling road will benefit the coal producers. In addition, the better condition of hauling road will also benefit the transporters as the maintenance costs and fuel cost will be greatly reduced. It is a win-win solution,” Suryo said.

The second cost-cutting initiative is the utilization of electricity supply from PT PLN to power the SDJ’s daily operation. SDJ operates three lines of barge loading conveyors (BLC) that can accommodate 300 feet barge. In addition, SDJ applies direct loading from truck to barge via conveyor, which means that reducing cost due to multiple handling in the stockpile.

SDJ requires a total 10 MW of electricity supply to operate the whole coal port operations and currently utilizes diesel-powered generators. Suryo stated that the operational cost of diesel generators is quite expensive and the company decided to switch to PLN electricity supply.

“Based on our calculation, dieselpowered generator costs us about Rp4,500 per kWh while PLN electricity for industrial use is about Rp1,300 per kWh,” Suryo said. SDJ is expected to utilize the PLN electricity supply next year once the transmission line and substation to the port is built.

In August, SDJ expanded the BLC Line-3 by deploying the second conveyor which halves coal loading duration to a barge from 8 hours per barge to 4 hour per barge. “Titan Infra Sejahtera is not only focusing on increasing the revenue from additional volume, but also focusing on improving cost-efficient initiatives,” Suryo said.

Growing region

South Sumatra is a growing coal producing region as many relatively “young” coal producers, excluding PT Bukit Asam, gears up the production operation. The coal production in the region keeps growing for previous three consecutive years as it produces 90 million tons in 2022 and 105.85 million and 113 million tons in 2023 and 2024 respectively. In 2025, South Sumatra is expected to produce 146.7 million tons of coal.

In comparison to other major coal producer regions, namely East Kalimantan and South Kalimantan Provinces that has mature coal mining industry with high stripping ratio (SR), most of South Sumatra coal producers are gifted with low stripping ratio. However, coal miners in the region have to deal with logistics challenge due to long distance from pit-to-port.

Victor B Tanuadji, Director of Titan Infra Sejahtera, stated that the growing coal production volume in South Sumatra provides a lucrative opportunity for the company. “Take for example PT Bukit Asam, it sets target to produce up to 100 million tons of coal per year, and currently it produces around 50 million tons,” he said.

Victor emphasized that Titan Infra Sejahtera welcomes coal producers in Lahat, Muara Enim Regencies to utilize the SLR’s hauling road and SDJ’s coal port to transport coal from pit-to-port. “We understand that these miners want to grow and increase the production volume, so we would be happy to support them by providing reliable coal logistic and infrastructure,” Victor said.

SLR’s hauling road, according to Victor, can accommodate up to 70 million tons of coal transport volume per year, however the capacity bottleneck occurs in SDJ’s port, which now is able to accommodate up to 40 million tons per year. In 2024, Titan Infra Sejahtera transport 21.6 million tons of coal and it still has plenty of additional volume from both existing and new customers.

Titan Infra Sejahtera applies two growth strategies to increase the coal transport volume namely market intensification and diversification. Market intensification means that the company encourages the existing customers to increase the coal transport volume. In addition, market diversification means that the company invites new customers to utilize Titan’s integrated coal logistic facilities.

Market outlook

Suryo anticipated that the coal market outlook in 2026 will a bit better than this year as the coal prices steadily rebounded in the last three months. He also mentioned that the upcoming winter season in northern countries drive importer countries to increase the coal inventories.

“We hope that the coal prices will increase by US$5 per ton compared to current prices. However, the current prices are actually at the level that we can at least survive, at least for coal industry players in South Sumatra,” Suryo said.

Victor shared common optimistic tone as he sees that South Sumatra shows a vibrant growth as coal producers in the region are eagerly increasing the coal production volume. “We are also willing to cooperate with these coal producers in the region by providing a more reliable coal logistic and infrastructure,” he said.

Source : Magazine Coalmetal Asia November 2025