Some 90 containers are waiting to be filled with food and other supplies to be shipped out to Aceh, Sri Lanka and the Andaman islands – three of the areas worst hit by the tsunami.

So far, some 200 tonnes of clothes, water and food supplies in 10 containers are ready to be shipped out.

Westport executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam said the company was working with shipping lines and hauliers to send aid to the affected countries quickly.

Shipping lines like CMA and Goldstar have contributed 100 empty containers to be used to ship out emergency items, while hauliers such as DiPerdana Holdings Bhd, Kontena Nasional Bhd and Konsortium Logistik Bhd have agreed to assist.

The Port Klang Authority chairman Datuk Yap Pian Hon will spearhead the effort. Gnanalingam said: “The priority is to save those who have survived the catastrophe and to ease their pain and suffering.”

“What we can do is to help in the most practical way, and as support, we have the resources to mobilise shipping lines and hauliers for this,” he said in a statement released yesterday. He said the operation would cost an estimated RM100,000, in addition to the RM150,000 Westport had already donated to the National Disaster Relief Fund and the Malaysian Red Crescent Society.

The Star, 3.1.2005