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In
what seems to be an afterthought
following the bizarre move by the
Ministry of Entrepreneur
Development to license nearly 60
companies to haul containers, the
Ministry is planning to undertake
a study of the container haulage
industry.
It is understood that the
Ministry, which in the last 18
months went about thoughtlessly
issuing licenses for about 1,700
prime movers and 3,000 trailers,
is now having second thoughts
about its hasty action that was
decried by the five-member
Container Hauliers Association.
Despite opposition by CHAM that
the Ministry's move was imprudent,
as it would create severe
imbalance in the marketplace, the
Ministry defended its move on
grounds, without scientific basis,
that there was a shortage of
capacity.
So far about 700 prime movers and
about 4,800 have been put on the
road by the new hauliers, adding
to the estimated 2,700 prime
movers and 15,000 trailers owned
by the CHAM members, namely,
Kontena Nasional Sdn Bhd,
Konsortium Logistik Bhd, Deperdana
Kontena Bhd, MISC Haulage Services
Sdn Bhd and Multimodal Freight
Services Sdn Bhd.
The misgiving in awarding such
large number of licenses has been
reflected by the announcement by
the Minister of Entrepreneur
Development Datuk Seri Mohamed
Nazri Aziz that he would not
hesitate to withdraw licenses from
companies that fail to utilize
them by 1 September although many
of the new companies are reluctant
to do so because of a downturn in
the market.
The
Minister has also asked the new
hauliers to consolidate in the
wake of the anticipated
competition expected with the
entry of Asean Free Trade Area - a
suggestion that only further
affirms a poor policy decision by
the Ministry.
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