JAKARTA – Bani M. Mulia, CEO of PT Samudera Indonesia Tbk (SMDR), a maritime transport services company, highlighted the effects of rupiah exchange rate fluctuations on the company's shipping operations.

According to Bani, most of the company's fleet operates in international markets, generating revenue in US dollars. Therefore, the strengthening of the US dollar against the rupiah does not significantly impact the company's performance.

“We have two business segments with different impacts. For ships operating in international markets, most of the revenue is earned in US dollars. Thus, when the dollar strengthens, it does not negatively affect us,” Bani said on Wednesday (26/3).

However, he added that some cost components, especially those related to investments and capital expenditure (capex), are also denominated in US dollars.

Meanwhile, for domestic shipping operations that use rupiah-based transactions, the company must adjust its cost structure to remain balanced with its revenue.

As of now, SMDR has no plans to expand its domestic fleet, as ship purchases are made in US dollars, while domestic freight rates are still set in rupiah.

On the other hand, according to Bloomberg data, the rupiah strengthened slightly by 0.14%, closing at IDR 16,581 per US dollar on Wednesday’s (26/3) trading session.

In today’s stock trading session I (27/3), by 9:51 AM WIB, SMDR’s stock price fell by 1.72% from IDR 232 to IDR 228 per share. (DK/ZH)