Labuan–Menumbok ferries cannot cope with festive season
Published on: Saturday, February 01, 2020
By: Sohan Das
Picture at the ticket sales counter in Menumbok terminal with the full house notice.
LABUAN: Every festive season like the Chinese New Year is an ideal time for many to head home for family reunion dinners resulting in heavy advance bookings and long waiting list of ro-ro ferries plying between Labuan and Menumbok.Now returning back to Labuan from the mainland has become a nightmare. A notice at the ticket sales counter of the terminal at Menumbok announced that on Jan 27 the ro-ro ferries were full despite having five departures on that day.
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Imagine the plight of those driving all the way from Kota Kinabalu and caught in this dilemma as not getting a ticket would mean they have to sleep in the car overnight at Menumbok or drive back all the way to Kota Kinabalu.
Many were keen to be back on Jan 27 as it was the last day of Chinese New Year holidays, they need to resume work and send kids to school.
Chairman of Labuan Women Affairs, Fauziah Datuk Din, said it is unfair punishment for the ferry users.
“I myself had to stay a day extra in Kota Kinabalu and pay for hotel when I returned from the interior and could not get a booking,” she said.
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She regretted that the scenario remained unchanged despite efforts by many. “It is obvious that the present operators are unable to handle festive season traffic. The solution is to appoint another operator to ease the situation.
The Ministry of Transport and the Sabah Ports and Harbour Department should seriously look into these statistics which show that travel between the two destinations were increasing annually.”
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Based on the statistics from the Ministry of Transport for the year 2017 and 2018.
In 2017, 133,499 left the island while 132,190 entered while last year it was 134,054 leaving and 136,681 entering.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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