All quiet at the express boat terminal
KAPIT: The Kapit Express Boat Terminal is all quiet now save for a few longboats tied to the poles at the terminal.
It used to be a very busy gateway to Kapit with many express boats berthing at the jetty or mooring near the riverbank with thousands of passengers and porters scurrying around.
Since the opening of KapitSong-Kanowit road on Oct 4 2019 most people now prefer to use their own vehicles to commute between Kapit and Sibu. The result is the drastic drop in (boat) passenger volume. Only the road stretch between Temalat (Song) and Ngemah is still under construction, which opens three times daily; from 6am to 8 am, noon to 1.30 pm, and 5pm to 9pm.
The express boat service between Kapit-Sibu was once the busiest in the state. Eighteen trips were conducted daily - from 5.45am to 2,30pm from Siibu, and from 6.40am to 3.15pm from Kapit.
Boat operators are complaining of zero or lesser income. Many express boats are berthed at private jetties.
The owner of 'Bahagia Express' Kapitan Ling Hung Ping, who has two express boats, said to minimise cost he operated one trip daily last year – at 1.45pm from Kapit to Sibu, and also about the same time from Sibu to Kapit.
The service finally stopped yesterday due also in part to the enforcement of movement control order (MCO).
A check at the Kapit Express Boat Terminal yesterday saw that the terminal was almost deserted except for one express boat trip from Sibu to Kapit and onward to Putai (Baleh) at 11.30am.