|
The
thoughtless, or some even say
reckless, licensing of 60 companies
with permits for about more than
1,000 prime movers and about 9,000
trailers is wreaking havoc in the
container haulage market.
The
licenses which were issued to new
operators to compete against the
five older hauliers has put paid to
the viability of a sector of the
transport industry that was once
considered the jewel of the industry
and drew distinguished three-piece
and double-breast suited gentlemen
to the industry.
The
five hauliers – MISC Haulage
Services Sdn Bhd, Kontena Nasional
Bhd, Multimodal Freight Services,
DiPerdana Kontena and Konsortium
Logistik Bhd – which between then
have a combined fleet totaling 2,700
prime movers and 15,000 have seen a
rapid erosion of the market shares
as the new brand of street-wise
entrepreneurs move around without
inhibitions.
A
number of the leaner (and meaner)
new haulage companies have eaten
into the markets of the larger and
elderly hauliers as too many trucks
chase around too few cargo.
The
five hauliers, which are all members
of the Container Hauliers’
Association, are reported to have
each lost between 15-25 per cent of
their respective market shares with
the heaviest toll in the Klang
Valley which accounts for more than
three fifths of the total market.
With
an additional 900 prime movers and
about 6,000 trailers been put on the
road by some of the new serious
hauliers that market is now also
said to be awash with more than 30
per cent capacity in the market
which since the second quarter of
this year has been faced with a
shrinking demand (in the light of
the economic slow down).
The
excess capacity has placed
tremendous pressure on the older
hauliers which are facing difficulty
to respond to the challenges mounted
by the new hailers in view of their
the higher cost components that
constitute the haulage charges.
And,
as it always happens in a
marketplace when supply exceeds
demand, the container haulage rates
have plunged – to about 40 per
cent below the pre-1997 crisis.
The
dramatic surge in capacity is now
hanging like a millstone round the
neck - the industry is the midst of
impending shake-up that could in a
year from now witness the emergence
of a restructured industry.
The
market disequilibrium precipitated
by the liberalization could not have
come at a worst time considering the
fact that mergers and acquisitions
have begun to characterizes the
industry elsewhere to combat the
competitive forces expected to
unleashed by globalisation and free
market access under free trade
regimes.
While
everyone welcomed the licensing of
new hauliers - even the Container
Hauliers Association of Malaysia –
no one would have guessed the
flood-gates would be wide open.
CHAM
chairman Mirzan Mahathir went on
record in supporting the move to
license some more hauliers but
warned of the consequences of freely
handling out licenses to companies
which did not have the financial and
technical capability to operate.
|
