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There was a time, some 30 years ago, when
containers arrived at Port Klang on ships from
Southampton journeying about 30 days. It took
another 30 days for the same containers, sitting
on the new container yard at the port to reach
the premises of an importer located less than 30
kilometres.
That was the advent of containerisation in
Malaysia when Port Klang received the first
containership in 1976. The physical process flow
of the containers in and out of the port as well
as the documentation process flow was at its
infancy and it as much a learning process for
the various agencies in the transportation
pipeline in locating the containers and hauling
it out.
Now thirty years later, Port Klang served by two
container terminal operators handling more than
7 million TEUs is a world ranking container port
and a major international transhipment hub in
the region. There are more than 140 shipping
calling at Port Klang linking more than 270
ports worldwide.
In keeping with its global status, and accepted
international norm, Port Klang Authority
recommended to the Ministry of Transport that
changes be made to port rules that containers
should not sit around longer than necessary and
reduce the free storage time of containers to
three days, from five days. Accordingly, the
port terminal operators, namely Westports and
Northport, were advised to adopt the new ruling,
effective November 1 2007.
The decision to reduce the free storage period
to three days is adopted universally by several
ports throughout the world and is in line with
international practices by contracting countries
of the Kyoto Convention, to which Malaysia is
also a party.
Port users claimed there were caught by
surprise. Not surprisingly there were howl of
protests from various agencies in the pipeline,
including the freight forwarding agents,
hauliers and the shippers. In deference to the
objections raised by the user-community, the two
terminal operators sought to defer
implementation of the reduced storage period to
a latter date. Notwithstanding the fact that the
decision to reduce the free storage period was
gazetted by the Ministry of Transport, Westports
and Northport agreed to defer its implementation
to 1 June 2008.
There is little to doubt that the decision to
reduce the free storage time was made on the
basis of the vast productivity improvements
recorded by the two port terminals in Port Klang,
especially in the process flows affecting the
physical and documentation flow of containers at
the port. The port terminal operators, which
have been recording significant increases in the
throughputs want to reduce the free storage time
in an attempt to increase the storage capacity
and density.
However, it seems when port authorities or
terminal operators set the free time or increase
storage density, they are often blamed for the
decision made without a clear understanding of
the effects on throughput and re-handling
productivity.
While there may be some truth in this, the port
has led itself into believing that its desire to
reduce the free storage period was, or is
independent of the involvement of other
agencies. It is believed that there are as many
as 10 agencies in Malaysia which are involved in
the transportation chain before the arriving
container is allowed to be removed from the
port. Depending on the type of cargo concerned,
the OGAs involved include the Pharmacy
Department, Department of Environment, Fisheries
Deparment, Ministry of Natural Resources, the
Construction Industry Development Board and so
forth.
In such circumstances, the need for consultation
with the other agencies cannot be understated.
Practical issues confront the ability to remove
the container within the three free days allowed
if the container arrived late on Friday evening
and the interfacing agencies remained closed for
the weekend. The importer would be unfairly
paying demurrage charges after having lost the
entitled free storage though was no fault of the
importer, or his clearing agent.
Ambiguity in the commencement of the free
storage is another problem. Does the free
storage begin when the container lands at the CY
or only when the discharging ship leave the
berth?
The fact that there are about 10 agencies,
especially several Other Government Agencies (OGAs)
is also a legitimate complaint by port users and
shippers which must be considered in determining
if the reduced free storage period is being
unilaterally imposed with regard to the
bureaucratic hurdles which must be cleared. Lack
of uniformity in dealing with these agencies may
compound the problem of port operators as well
as its users.
In any attempt to resolve the outstanding
issues, implementation of the reduction of the
free storage to three days has been further
deferred to 1 January 2009 pending discussion
with industry players. |
