The Maatschappij Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang (N.V. “Zeehaven en Kolenstation”, the “Sabang Maatschappij”) was the limited company which from 1897 operated the free harbour and coal station of Sabang on Poelò We — managing what author Joh. Langhout presents as the foremost achievement of private initiative in Atjeh — and which by its agreement of 1909–1910 with the Government combined full commercial freedom with a guarantee that the strategically vital harbour would never fall under foreign control.
Foundation and management
When in 1892 the Batavia firm De Lange & Co (under J. M. H. van Oosterzee, supported by the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij) contracted for piers, sheds and coal delivery, and on 1 April 1896 the free harbour Sabang was opened to general trade, the exploitation passed in 1897 to the N.V. “Zeehaven en Kolenstation” founded for that purpose, whose direction was conducted by the Factory of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij. When the number of coaling ships steadily increased, the NHM realized “that a banking and trading institution is not the fittest organ to lead and develop such an extensive harbour concern with its countless technical and nautical problems”, and sought a future director — finding in 1901 the chief of the external service of the Hollandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij, the former naval officer Jhr. G. C. Quarles van Ufford, who by his inflexible faith in Sabang’s future “helped the enterprise over the dead point” when the money-lenders’ appetite flagged. The first administrator, C. G. Vattier Kraane, was knighted in the Order of Oranje-Nassau on 29 September 1903, when the first mailboat Koning Willem III was festively piloted in (see Inauguration of the Sabang mail service (1903)); later administrators were L. L. F. de Greve and H. Smit.
Technical development
For the loading and discharging of coal — until then done by coolies (Javanese and Chinese) — the harbour was equipped in 1904–1905 with four (later five) electrically driven transporters, accelerating and cheapening the manipulation and shortening the ships’ berth-time; together with two floating bunker machines they secured a quick service day and night. The concern added a modern repair shop, a 3,000-ton floating dock and small slipways, a fresh-water conduit, electric light, a passenger hotel, a brick- and tile-factory, and a new hospital for Europeans and for the native and Chinese workforce. A 5,000-ton dry dock was under construction at the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij at Amsterdam for towage to Sabang in the summer of 1923. Founded by the company, the Atjeh Transport Maatschappij maintained a regular service with Oelèë Lheue; the Dordtsche Petroleum Maatschappij held fuel-oil tanks in the harbour, and the N.V. “Ret-Sabang” exploited a factory of triplex chests, enlarged with a tea- and rubber-chest factory (timber from Singkel) in the last years before 1923.
The agreement of 1909–1910
In 1909–1910 a fixed agreement with the Government came about: the Government, deeming it desirable to secure sufficient say over the enterprise so that the internationally important Sabang harbour should never come into the hands of foreign capital and thus under foreign control, took over at cost price a broad strip of the company’s coastal land with all piers, sheds, factory, electric power-station etc., while the company simultaneously received these assets in long-lease (erfpacht) for a long term against payment of a yearly canon and a share in the profit. Expansions in the interest of trade and shipping would be paid by the Government and taken into the lease. By this form of contract the company kept full freedom to build without previous approval the works it judged necessary for the exploitation, while the Government was secured that no unnecessary works would be executed — the company being careful not to charge its exploitation account with unproductive burdens.
Figures
The book’s traffic and turnover statistics for the Sabang harbour, 1902–1921 (merchant vessels; coal supplied in tons of 1,016 KG; goods traffic in tons of 1,000 KG or 1 M³; dividend paid; capital), record the growth and the war-time dip:
| Year | Vessels | Coal (tons) | Goods (tons) | Dividend | Capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1902 | 181 | 23,122 | – | – | – |
| 1905 | 643 | 93,901 | 37,000 | 6% | 2,000,000 |
| 1908 | 805 | 161,114 | 61,000 | 9% | 2,500,000 |
| 1911 | 921 | 194,553 | 73,000 | 10% | 2,500,000 |
| 1913 | 1,071 | 213,351 | 111,000 | 12½% | 2,500,000 |
| 1916 | 792 | 142,480 | 121,000 | 13% | 2,500,000 |
| 1918 | 423 | 33,583 | 20,000 | 15% | 2,500,000 |
| 1920 | 619 | 116,620 | 76,000 | 36% | 2,500,000 |
| 1921 | 648 | 113,179 | 52,000 | 20% | 3,000,000 |
That the enterprise remained financially strong despite the world war it owed, per Langhout, to the ample depreciations done in good years and the breeding of solid reserves.
See Also
- Sabang
- Poelò We
- G. C. Quarles van Ufford
- Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij
- Inauguration of the Sabang mail service (1903)
Account from Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu
Owns the havenétablissement (harbor establishment) at Sabang: kolensteigers (coal steigers), hangars, dok (5000 ton dock). Also owns the Alberti’s shops.
Source: J. Jongejans, Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 23, 24.
Source
Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 85, 141–153 (chapter “Sabang”), statistics p. 153, pp. 178–179, 182.
Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938), pp. 23, 24.