Abolishing cabotage policy will have serious repercussions — associations
SIBU: Sarawak and Sabah Shipowners Association (SSSA) and Sarawak Shipping Association (SSA) said any move by the government to abolish the Cabotage policy will bring about serious repercussions to the local shipping industry.
“There are about 3000 ships registered in Sarawak and based on the minimum manning of six crews per ship, a total of 18,000 persons are currently serving as crew members and these people would be out of job if the Cabotage policy is lifted,” its president Pierre Song said.
Song said the figures did not stop there if they were to include their immediate families, the supporting ship building and the docking business.
“Sarawak offshore support vessels in the oil and gas sector would also be eliminated given the already depressed situation due to severe drop of oil prices,’ he said.
Song said they were willing to disseminate correct information to any party who wish to understand the shipping industry better and believe in mutual consultation to address any misunderstanding of the industry.
“We strongly support the Cabotage policy because it is our sovereign rights to protect local ship owners and shipping industry.”
Song said they had already handed over a memorandum to Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, asking for his intervention to help solve the misunderstanding and misinterpretation on the Cabotage policy.
During a live interview last week, the Chief Minister stated that it was time to abolish the policy so that ships from overseas can come direct to Sarawak.
The chief minister also said the abolition of the policy could reduce the prices of goods for Sarawakians as the policy had been widely blamed for the price disparity of goods between West and East Malaysia.
Song said there was a clear misinterpretation with regards to foreign ships that cannot come directly to Sarawak or vice versa.
“This has nothing to do with the Cabotage Policy,” Song explained.
For the past 20-30 years, Song said all logs, plywood and sawn timber were directly shipped from Sarawak to various countries like China, HK, Taiwan, Japan and others.
He said containerised carriers and other cargo ships also called at Sarawak ports directly from foreign countries such as China, HK, Japan and all these information were easily obtainable from any port authorities in Sarawak.
“As a matter of fact, Cabotage Policy had been partially liberalised for several years already to allow foreign vessels to carry transhipment cargo from major ports in West Malaysia, ie Port Klang and Tg. Pelapas Port to Kuching, Bintulu and Sepangar Bay in Kota Kinabalu.”
Song said they do not agree that the pricing gap of goods between East and West Malaysia was due to the Cabotage Policy but rather it was caused by the imbalanced economic development between the two regions.