Datuk Matthew Chen
KUCHING (May 1): The Kuching Chinese Import and Export Association claims that the shipping companies have continued imposing congestion surcharges on import and export merchants, despite the Sarawak government’s directive against it.
The surcharges are said to have been necessitated by the delay in operations, resulting from the computer system outage that struck Senari Port last month.
The association’s past president Datuk Matthew Chen said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing had given his assurance that the shipping companies would not levy additional fees on import-and-export companies and also the consumers.
“The shipping companies simply ignore the government’s instruction and continue to impose additional fees. From whom can the import and export companies claim the additional costs?
“The Kuching Port Authority (KPA) must be responsible for the additional expenses of the shipping companies for time-consuming loading and unloading, and such costs should not be transferred to merchant importers,” said Chen in a statement yesterday.
He said the KPA did not levy additional fees on the shipping companies, but the latter had collected these fees from the merchant importers.
“Why the shipping companies dare not claim their time-consuming losses and expenses from the KPA, but dare to impose them on merchant importers?
“This is wrong because importers are not to be blamed and charged.
“We know that the (Senari Port’s) computer system failures have been more complicated and the KPA is working hard to repair them. We know the computer system failures are related to the slow loading and unloading, but it has been a month since March 27 – this is taking too long,” he lamented.
Chen said the KPA must immediately purchase brand new terminal loading-and-unloading quay crane equipment to ensure effective service delivery.
He also proposed for the KPA’s computer system to must have a backup system to assist in the operationz.
“In order to alleviate the current slow loading and unloading at the port, the government can rent viable heavy cranes to provide additional services and speed up the loading and unloading activities, and also to relieve the problem of long waiting time for ships,” he added.
Earlier this week, the shipping companies had agreed to cease imposing the surcharges after a meeting with Masing, who is also the state Minister of Infrastructure and Ports Development.
Masing also assured the shipping companies that KPA’s operations would return to normal very soon and that the congestion would be addressed.
He said KPA would also acquire a new harbour crane using its own internal funding, on top of it rectifying the computer system, and shipping companies providing their own ship-to-shore cranes on one berth.
He added that as a long-term measure, the state government would acquire two extra quay cranes to enable three berth operations, as well as four new gantry cranes to replace the current aging cranes.
Masing also said KPA had been instructed to review its computer system, with backup software, so that in the event of another computer outage, there would not be any more congestion both on land and on sea.
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