KUCHING, March 1: The Federal Cabinet has decided to reintroduce the cabotage policy for ships providing cargo services from Peninsular Malaysia to Sarawak.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke in a statement today said the decision was taken following the request from the Sarawak government to support the growth of the local shipping industry which is affected by the exception of the cabotage policy since June 2017.
“It should be emphasised that all foreign ships can also provide shipping services directly (Direct Call) from foreign ports to any port in Sarawak, Sabah, and Labuan to transport import or export goods,” he said.
He added that the decision was made during a Cabinet meeting held today with key industry stakeholders.
On the same note, he said the Cabinet also decided to reinstate exemption of cabotage policy for foreign vessels on undersea cable repairs.
According to him the, effective date of these decisions will be announced later.
“This step is very important to attract more foreign investment in the data center industry and boost the growth of the digital economy,” he said.
Among others, the Cabinet has approved for exemption from the cabotage policy for ships operating cargo services from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Labuan to be maintained; and all local and foreign ships that carry out cargo services in Malaysian waters need to apply for a Domestic Shipping License (DSL) for national security reasons. — DayakDaily
