KUCHING, April 28: The Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development supports the Cabotage Policy as the law protects local shipping companies operating in domestic waters.
Its Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing noted the Cabotage Policy also prohibits foreign-owned vessels from operating in domestic waters.
“At the moment I am not interested in doing it (abolishing the policy) for a simple reason, that is, I want to protect the shipping companies in Sarawak so that they will not face any competition from outside shippers coming in.
“Therefore, if I am protecting them, the shipping companies also must protect the shipping interest in Sarawak, that is all I want. It is a win-win situation for both.
“I protect the shipping companies by not taking away the Cabotage Policy, at the same time, the shipping companies must help protect the people of Sarawak from high cost of items. It is a give-and-take situation by the shipping companies and by the Sarawak government,” he said in a statement today.
Masing was responding to Sarawak and overseas stakeholders who are calling for the Cabotage Policy to be abolished.
Meanwhile, Masing who is also the Deputy Chief Minister paid a working visit to Kuching Port Authority (KPA) this morning to get updates on the computer system outage at KPA.
Masing asserted the computer outage which occurred at KPA on March 27 was due to ‘natural disaster’ and KPA is doing their best to fix it.
“I promise (to support) KPA to be in a better position to dispose and process the export and import of cargo in a timely manner, so there will be no extra cost to the shipping companies and their consumers,” he added. — DayakDaily
