Port issue: We never agreed on not imposing congestion surcharges, say two shipping firms

A screengrab of the Facebook Live session shows Chong holding up the newspaper report, which talks about the operations at Senari Port returning to normalcy soon.

KUCHING (May 3): At least two shipping companies have clarified that they never agreed on imposing the port congestion surcharges, resulting from to the computer system outage that struck Senari Port on March 27 this year.

This was stated by Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen, who is also Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman, during his Facebook Live session yesterday.

Adding on, he said only the stakeholders – including those representing the two shipping companies – who had recently met with Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing, would know what had transpired during the meeting.

Masing – also the Minister of Infrastructure and Ports Development Sarawak – had, after the meeting, issued a statement to inform that the shipping companies had agreed to not impose the surcharges.

However, it was later discovered that some shipping companies had slapped importers and exporters with the congestion surcharges.

“The congestion charge is due to KPA (Kuching Port Authority)’s computer system outage. The two shipping companies have clarified that there was no agreement reached at the meeting (with Masing).

“Masing had, on April 27, issued another statement to apologise over port congestion and to give assurance that operations would resume to normal by end-April.

“This goes to show that the statement issued by KPA on April 14, saying that Senari Port had gone back to normal following restoration of the computer system, was not true,” said Chong.

He said the port congestion problem had affected trailer drivers, importers and exporters, shipping companies, and also the consumers at large.

He said previously, the trailer drivers would make two to three delivery trips – now, they could only manage one trip per day.

“Their pay is based on the commission on the number of trips that they make. It means that their pay is (now) gravely reduced. The pricing of goods fluctuates, and this means importers and exporters may incur losses since the goods cannot be unloaded on time.

“For shipping companies, they rent the vessels to ferry the containers from one point to another, based on the number of days that the ships are in use.

“At Senari Port, it usually takes three days to do unloading – now, it takes seven to eight days due to the computer system outage. It costs them about US$16,000 per day, and five days would mean US$90,000, which translates into RM400,000 – almost half a million ringgit,” he added.

Chong also expressed his concern about consumers being eventually burdened to cover for these costs, which they were not supposed to.

He added that the KPA must absorb the port congestion and waiting charges before such costs would be passed on to the consumers.

“It is ridiculous in this era that for such an important service, there is no back-up for the computer system,” he criticised.

Chong suggested that to solve the problem, the government could de-privatise port services in Sarawak and set aside allocations meant for upgrade works on port facilities.

He said the equipment at Senari Port had not been upgraded for years, when such outdated equipment must be replaced to improve efficiency.

According to Chong, the benchmark to measure a port’s efficiency is based on the length of the berth and quay, and the twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers that it handles.

For the record, Senari Port spans 630m in length and is capable of discharging 400,000 TEUs of containers per annum.

“Based on the international benchmark, Senari Port should be able to register a throughput of 400,000 TEUs, but the port only records 260,000 TEUs – operating 20 to 40 per cent below the benchmark,” he pointed out.

Chong claimed that the port had been having similar problems even before the outage that hit the computer system end of March.

“Without short and long-term solutions, the problem would keep recurring – in the end, the consumers would be penalised.

“Do not make the consumers pay for what they’re not supposed to pay,” he stressed.

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