Malaysia wants ships to bypass S'pore

Malaysia wants ships to bypass S'pore

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian shipping agents are rallying behind a call by local port authorities to bypass Singapore in favor of Malaysia's Port Klang, the head of an industry association said yesterday.

"We should boycott Singapore. It is high time we helped expand our nation's maritime capabilities," V. Muthiah, president of Port Klang Shipping Agencies Association, told AFP.

"It is not an emotional plea but more of a nationalistic call," he said, confirming a main headline story in Malaysia's Star newspaper that shipping agents were pressing local importers and exports to skip Singapore.

Currently, about 30 percent of Malaysian cargo is exported via Singapore and many firms here still use the island republic to import goods into Malaysia. There is growing economic rivalry between the two neighbors.

Port Klang, Malaysia's largest port, has long been under the shadow of Singapore but has embarked on an expansion and modernization plan in a bid to be one of the world's 10 busiest container ports at the turn of the century.

Muthiah said Malaysia lost over 10 million ringgit (US$4 million) in port revenues and customs duties a month because locally manufactured goods were exported through Singapore.

The association, which represents about 80 percent of shipping agents in the country, recently unanimously agreed to give Singapore port "a pass," he said.

"We have urged our members to open their letters of credit (LC) via local banks here and that Port Klang should be used as the loading port," he said.

Asked why shippers and forwarders continued using Singapore, Muthiah said it could be due to traditional factors and not because Port Klang was less efficient.

"Traditionally, in those days, most of the buying was made through Singapore and Singapore banks issued the LC," he said.

The owner of a shipping agency said Monday that his company would support the association's call to use Port Klang.

"We have more space, more land, good infrastructure and more mother ships are already calling at Port Klang," S. Segaran, managing director of MH Agency Sdn. Bhd.

Segaran, however, pointed out that the Malaysian manufacturers and the freight forwarders had a important role to play if the government's desire to see Port Klang emerge as a premier port was to be realized.

"The government is already giving all the assistance, it is now up to the private sector to play their role," he said. Muthiah said the government was strongly supporting the growth of Port Klang and was quick to address any complaints of the shipping industry.

Citing the National Steering Committee on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) as an example, he said, officers of the various related government agencies were sensitive to any problems related to the port.

Klang Port Authority chairman Michael Chen had said in a recent interview that the premier port's ultimate aim was to become a regional hub.

He forecast that cargo volumes would double in five years with the expansion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is now slashing tariffs to create a free trade area.

ASEAN now groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It is expected to admit Burma, Cambodia and Laos this year.

Chen said Port Klang, which currently handles 50 million tons of cargo and twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container traffic, had moved from the world's 57th busiest port in 1980 to 26th in 1995.