The Senari port operations suffered a computer system outage due to water damage.
KUCHING (May 3): Senari Port’s computer outage on March 27 had caused container shipping lines to suffer huge losses, said four shipping associations.
In a joint statement, the Malaysia Shipowners’ Association, Shipping Association Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah Shipowners Association, and Sarawak Shipping Association said the incident had also caused the operating costs of the container shipping lines to escalate.
“They have also suffered from the loss of sailing and revenues.
“Their shipping service qualities to the business community were also adversely compromised,” they said.
The associations said that the number of vessels at the anchorage awaiting to berth had accumulated since the incident took place.
“For example, the average waiting hours for berth had increased to 82 hours in April, which is an increase of 183 per cent compared to 29 hours in March.
“The average port’s productivity had dropped from the average 14 gross move per hour (GMPH) to 9 GMPH, a reduction of 36 per cent,” they said, adding that the average port stay hours (from arrival to departure) had increased from 2.5 days in March to seven days in April.
In addition, the associations said the delay from the Senari Port Terminal had inevitably resulted in disruption of the supply chain to the overall East Malaysian market.
They said many vessels had suffered delays at other Sarawak and Sabah ports following the disruption at Senari Port Terminal, which impacted the supply of empty containers for fresh bookings for shippers in Peninsular Malaysia.
“The shipping community is one of the key stakeholders in Kuching Port. Kuching Port Authority (KPA)’s service levels have a direct impact on the shipping lines business. It is our wish to see KPA continuous improvement towards the Senari Port Terminal operations,” they said.
Throughout the years, the associations noted the port’s service levels performance had not improved due to lack of capital investments to upgrade the port’s aging equipment and its information technology systems.
“There is an urgent need to review the entire port’s management system, including the port operating model.
“We will continue to release the joint statement on a periodically basis to ensure the community at large would be updated on the KPA latest service level performance until the KPA has achieved its 20 to 25 GMPH commitment,” they said.
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