|
Malaysian Shipowners’ Association (MASA) has welcomed the recent suggestion
by the Minister of Transport for a dialogue with the shipping industry to
resolve issues relating to complaints that too many foreign ships are
getting approvals to trade in the domestic waters.
Reiterating its position that Malaysian-flagged ships must be given priority
over foreign-flagged ships in the carriage of cargoes within domestic
waters, MASA said it was ready to provide specific and comprehensive
proposals to enhance the process flow leading to the granting of
dispensation, or waivers to foreign ships.
As long as Malaysian-flag vessels are able to meet the specific requirements
of the charterers, including provide competitive rates, there is no reason
why our local owners should be deprived of the opportunities in the domestic
trade, said the Chairman of MASA, Ir Nordin Mat Yusoff.
“In this regard too, MASA fully supports the statement by our Prime
Minister, YAB Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, that Malaysian shipowners
must also be competitive with foreign lines,” he said.
He said dispensation or waivers for foreign flag vessels granted by the
Domestic Shipping Licensing Board (DSLB) must be only on the “last resort”
basis.
“The role of MASA is very specific; we offer to circulate, or disseminate
information to our members, details of the vessel requirements as required
by charterers for the application of licence to the Board,” he said.
“We do not have the right to scrutinize the applications for waivers; only
the DSLB has that right and it would be improper for us to usurp that right
provided for under the law to the DSLB,” he added.
The MASA chairman said the crux of the issue is whether the DSLB is granting
the waivers too freely or liberally as alleged, or whether the Board is
granting waivers only because there is inadequate number of Malaysian ships
able to meet the demand.
He emphasized that if waivers are not granted to foreign ships after the
Board is satisfied that there are no Malaysian ships, it can cause
disruptions to our economy and the trade.
MASA reiterated its concern that there was much left to be desired in the
manner in which the charterers are forwarding their requests for vessels.
He said there are also instances where charterers provide very little
information of their vessel requirements, perhaps deliberately because they
know that no one will be able to offer their vessels, even if they had one,
based on such sketchy information, sometimes without even details on the
profile of the cargo.
He said the Association handled a total of 1831 requests from charterers in
2005 out of which 548 were requests for charters of tankers which were
circulated to its members.
“We would like the government to take a re-look at the current practices
with a view to improving and expanding the involvement of Malaysian
shipowners in the tanker and other sectors of domestic shipping,” he said.
“We are also of the view that the solution to the problem lies elsewhere;
charterers must plan their requirements ahead. It is very good management
practice and planning if these charterers know of their requirements well in
advance before its deployment, however, we need to be practical and realize
that there are constraints from business perspective,” the MASA Chairman
said.
On the same note MASA would like the charterers, especially the oil majors
to review their current practice of seeking vessels on spot basis or at
short notices.
He said Malaysian shipowners have proven to be capable of meeting the demand
for domestic shipping provided opportunities are available.
He said only a stronger enforcement of the cabotage policy would create the
opportunities for Malaysian shipowners and help in fostering the development
of a larger and stronger domestic fleet, he noted.
“In this regard, MASA would like to sit down with the Ministry of Transport
and other relevant agencies, including the Malaysian Institute of Maritime
Affairs (MIMA) to help in the formulation of a comprehensive and an
unambiguous national shipping policy,” he said. |
