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Following
up on his earlier thoughts why
handling of cargo via ports should
cause no more hassle than dropping
a letter at a post office with
only a stamp affixed, the
executive chairman of Westport,
Tan Sri G Gnanalingam has
challenged bureaucrats and port
planners to look at the fluency of
handling passengers at airports
for solutions to expedite port
operations.
Entreating
bureaucrats to take a look at
unconventional approaches to
enhance productivity and
efficiency at ports, G Gnanalingam,
said developing an integrated
tariff as is applied by airports
when handling passengers is a case
in point.
“Ports
still have hundreds of tariff
items which can be consolidated
and simplified into integrated
charges. There are separate
charges for port use, wharf use,
handling, stevedoring, pilotage
and tug boats,” he noted.
Gnanalingam
highlighted the ludicrousness of
the structure of port charges by
stating that “if the port type
of tariff is practised at
airports, then we will still have
an airport tax, a charge for
baggage by weight, a forwarding
agent to declare the contents and
to clear it at the destination.”
“Maybe
there will also be a train ticket
charge to move from one terminal
to another,” he jested.
Gnanalingam
also took a dig at the cargo
handling practices at ports by
comparing it with airports, which,
he said practiced a disciplined
approach with their passengers to
achieve one or two hour transit
time.
“Passengers
are required to check-in two hours
before to clear ticketing,
baggage, immigration and customs.
They are then pre-stowed in
cubicles where transit passengers
also join them. Boarding is done
half an hour before the flight
schedule time to arrive in the
time given for landing
clearance,” he said.
He
said in the ports, conventional
ships hardly have fixed ETA and
ETD whilst Container ships find it
difficult to keep to their
designated windows owing to delays
in other ports, weather or
mechanical problems.
“It
is often said that cargo takes
seven days to be cleared out of
ports. This is simply because the
government regulations permit
seven days free storage in view of
the lack of lorries and hauliers
in earlier days,” he said.
“In
Port Klang today it takes only 30
minutes to clear your cargo and 7
hours to reach any part of
Peninsular Malaysia,” the
executive chairman of Westport
said.
Gnanalingam
stressed ports can be more
efficient and achieve faster
turnaround time by investing in
additional equipment and new
technologies for which the
recovery can only come from
adequate tariff charges or
services.
“Just
as road toll charges expedite
travel from one destination to
another, port users will continue
to use the kampung roads to get
home as long as the tariff remains
the same for thirty years,” he
argued in stating a case for a
tariff revision at Port Klang.
Gnanlingam
who can claim credit for injecting
a sense of exhilaration and
excitement in the landscape port
industry (similar to that
surrounds the aviation industry)
said ports in Malaysia fortunately
have captivated the attention of
the country and are addressing all
issues to emulate if not operate
like an airport.
“However
there are still many ports in the
region where ships wait 8-10 days
for a berth, have tariff
structures bigger than a telephone
directory and procedures hampered
by bureaucracy and the priorities
of the authorities,” he
lamented.
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