South Sulawesi
Eastern Indonesia's logistics hub since Bugis maritime era, now expanding Makassar port to 2.5M TEU capacity.
Long before Europeans reached Indonesia, Makassar's Bugis sailors dominated maritime trade from Madagascar to Manila, creating an oceanic web with South Sulawesi as its center. Portuguese chroniclers noted in the 1500s that Makassar was already one of Asia's great trading ports. The Dutch destroyed this independence in 1667 but couldn't erase the geographic logic: Sulawesi sits at the crossroads where the Pacific meets the Indian Ocean.
Today Makassar remains eastern Indonesia's only city with developed infrastructure—the hub to which all other Sulawesi roads and sea-lanes lead. Makassar New Port is expanding from 320 to 1,600 meters of dock, targeting 2.5 million TEU capacity to become the logistics spine for Indonesia's eastern archipelago. University of Hasanuddin economists predict this could boost provincial growth to 9-10%. The nickel boom in neighboring Central and Southeast Sulawesi now routes through Makassar, adding mineral wealth to the traditional rice, seaweed, and cement cargoes.
But South Sulawesi's prosperity comes with a warning. Former VP Jusuf Kalla, speaking in Makassar in late 2025, warned that Indonesia's nickel gains haven't reached ordinary people. By 2026, the province will test whether its hub position can translate extractive wealth into local development—or whether it merely loads ships for others' benefit.