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No more surcharge for congestion at Senari Terminal

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Stacked containers at Senari Terminal

KUCHING: Shipping companies will cease to levy congestion surcharge with immediate effect on the assurance and undertaking by Kuching Port Authority (KPA) that the service at Senari Terminal will be regularised by the end of this month.

This was agreed to during a meeting yesterday afternoon (April 26) chaired by Deputy Chief Minister and Infrastructure and Port Development Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing with Kuching Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCGCCI) and other stakeholders.

Apart from KCGCCI, the meeting which was conducted both physically and via zoom was also attended by other stakeholders, namely, KPA, shipping companies and forwarding agencies as well as the Infrastructure and Port Development Assistant Minister Datuk Julaihi Narawi and the officers from the ministry.

The meeting discussed ways to resolve the pressing issue of surcharge for congestion which was arbitrarily and unfairly imposed by shipping companies recently.

On the outcome of the meeting, Masing said that he was pleased with the good gesture on the part of the shipping companies and thanked them for their commitment and understanding of all the stakeholders in resolving the issues amicably.

KCGCCI thus lauds the timely intervention of the state government on the imposition of the congestion surcharge by the shipping companies.

As a way forward, Masing also outlined in the meeting that KPA would rectify its computer problem and acquire a harbour crane with its own fund in the immediate term. KPA would further acquire more quay cranes and gantry cranes and enhance its container terminal management system to boost efficiency of port service in the medium and longer term.

Early on, the operational costs of the shipping companies recently escalated due to ongoing congestion at Senari Terminal following a computer outage which led to significant delays in the turnaround time of vessels and delivery of containers.

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