KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 (Bernama) -- A national strategy on ports must include making local ports both duty-free and free of all bureaucracy, says Tan Sri Datuk G. Gnanalingam, executive chairman of Westport, one of the country's leading ports.
He said it was crucial for Malaysia to do away with a lot of the regulations, some of which were already outdated, and charges which were unnecessary if the country's ports wanted to be among the world's top ports such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
Major ports in Malaysia include North Port, Penang Port, Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Johor Port, Kuantan Port, Bintulu Port and Lumut Port.
Gnanalingam cited the example of the country's tariff structure for ports, which was based on the "KTM 1966 Tariff Structure for Ports".
During the Sixties, he said there were numerous different charges.
But these, he said, could now be simplified, standardised and made more transparent because "while everybody knows what the port charges are, the logistics costs thereafter can be very high."
"So, we need to standardise and simplify our charges so that everybody knows what the fees are," Gnanalingam, who is also the chairman of the Federation of Malaysian Port Operating Companies, told Bernama in an interview over the weekend.
He also drew reference to airline tickets whose prices were standardised "but in ports, you end up paying about 25 different charges."
"We can dispense with a lot of these charges -- for instance at Port Klang -- and have one simplified charge. But now we have about 150 charges at the port alone imposed by various players and agencies," he said.
"Hong Kong and Singapore are the largest ports in the world because they do not have any bureaucracy and they are duty-free," Gnanalingam said.
He also cited the example of Dubai, which rose from nothing to be a major port in West Asia and now occupied 13th spot among the world's top ports in terms of volume handled "because it is duty-free and regulation-free."
Westport has also done well having started out a "greenfield" port 10 years ago to develop Port Klang along with North Port into the world's top 12th port in terms of boxes handled at 4.18 million twenty-equivalent units (TEUs) annually.
Gnanalingam said the government was fully aware of the need for a national strategy on ports, given the immense potential in global merchandise trade.
Alluding to this potential, he said some 300 million container boxes were handled annually by ports worldwide compared with only 20 million container boxes in 1980.
"As long as there is growth in world trade, I believe there is no such thing as competition in the port industry; there are only key issues -- efficient service at a reasonable price," he said.
Gnanalingam said "shipping lines would go for productivity more than costs, the only competitor you have is productivity, if you have the productivity, everybody will come. "The question is how many percent of this trade would be won by Malaysian ports, how much capacity we have and what we are capable of handling."
Lamenting over numerous charges imposed by various players in the industry, he said the key issue before Malaysian ports "is to be able to charge the right price and remain viable."
While we have made giant strides in terms of bureaucratic changes and attitudes, a lot of the regulations still need to be amended," he said. To enhance port operations nationally, he said the Federation of Malaysian Port Operating Companies had already made representations to the ministries of international trade and industry and transport.
All parties would have to improve the efficiency and speed at which logistics move in this country and these should be incorporated into the Third Industrial Master Plan, he said. A meeting to this end would be held on Jan 6, which would also form part of the ongoing national competitiveness study, Gnanalingam added.
- BERNAMA |
