Govt to further liberalise Cabotage policy: Liow
Published on: Monday, September 21, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The Transport Ministry is looking at ways to further liberalise the Cabotage policy to assist Sabah address the high cost of living.Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the ministry would discuss the matter with transporters, vessel operators and shipping lines to see what further steps could be taken to liberalise the policy.The Cabotage policy had been a bone of contention among Sabah businessmen and political parties who wanted the Federal Government to scrap it as it contributed to higher cost of shipping to ports in Sabah.
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"Cabotage policy cannot be repealed as it is the country's sovereign right as provided for under Section 65 KA1 of the Malaysian Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952. (The Section 65 stipulates a restriction that no ships other than Malaysian ships may engage in domestic shipping lines)."However, as the Transport Minister, I have the right under the ordinance to further liberalise the Cabotage policy or give further exemptions as an effort to address the higher living cost in the State."Again, I would like to reiterate that the Cabotage policy is not the cause of higher cost of living (in Sabah) compared to the peninsula. Actually, it is due to inefficiency of port operations and the costly land transport in the State as well as smaller volume of trade," he said.Liow said this in a press conference after officiating the MCA Sabah Annual Convention 2015 at Sabah Trade Centre, here, Sunday.
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Also present were MCA Deputy President Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong who is also Sabah MCA Chief, his deputy chief Datuk Francis Goh who is also Penampang MCA Chief and other MCA national and State leaders."In fact, I have been giving a lot of exemptions in the past to allow vessels from Port Klang to come to Sepanggar Port as well as from Johor to come to Sabah.
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"We had approved this and there was no problem with these liberations of the Cabotage policy which reflected that the policy is not too rigid that it could not give leeway for the transporters to ferry their goods to Sabah," said Liow.In supporting a proposal to upgrade the Sepanggar Port here, Liow said his ministry will be working with the State Government to upgrade the Sepanggar Port to ensure its operations are more efficient and competitive that could help lessen the cost.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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