PORT NEWS

1. Port Meeting on 08/06/2017 @ 1000 LT, Venue: BWCT Meeting Room, Topic:  Charges to transporters entering PBCT. - POSTPONE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
2. NOTICE FOR MAINTENANCE/REPAIR WORK
    
   Please be informed that the following maintenance work has been arranged and will be carried out at the place and time as per scheduled below :-
    
   Works        :  Renewal of Float Valve at High Level Water Tank, BW
    
   Date           :  10/06/2017 (Saturday) to 11/06/2017 (Sunday)
    
   Location    :  Butterworth Wharves
    
   Contractor  :  Elia Raj Enterprise.
    
   Supply of water will still be available during the work period. However, users may experience low supply pressure. 
3. Monday, August 14th, 2017 at , Corporate Malaysia | News
   

   
   

   Customs DG denies scanners system the cause behind long wait for container clearances

   By ALIFAH ZAINUDDIN / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

   The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) plans to introduce time slots to address the long wait and delays for container clearance at the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT).

   Transporters claimed that since the use of scanners at the port, container clearances have taken longer, creating long queues, delaying cargo delivery and burdening haulage companies with additional operating costs.

   Customs DG Datuk Subromaniam Tholasy, however, denied the scanners system was the cause behind the long wait for container clearances.

   Instead, he said the long queues were due to the peak-hour rush as transporters pushed to deliver their cargo at certain times.

   “The problem is everyone wants to clear at the same time at noon. You have to be fair to us, it is uncalled for. But to overcome the situation, we are considering to slot them at different times,” Subromaniam told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR).

   He did not give a timeframe when to implement the time slots but confirmed the proposal was being seriously considered.

   Association of Malaysian Hauliers northern region chairman R Amaiappan disagreed with the time slot proposal, saying there was a need to find “a win-win situation” to overcome delays at the post.

   “That is how the haulage business works. Our clients need their items to be delivered during office hours. If the RMCD understand our operating procedures, they will not make such a statement,” Amaiappan told TMR.

   He called on the RMCD to engage with all the related stakeholders and seek a working solution.

   “They need to see and understand the situation on the ground. At the end of the day, if prices go up, the consumers will be the one who suffers,” Amaiappan said.

   Since the scanning system was introduced in September last year, the average container handling time increased from 26 minutes to 44 minutes, extending the container dwelling time to two hours, official data from Penang Port showed.

   Amaiappan claimed that hauliers had to incur additional costs for demurrage and storage charges as well as driver’s incentive due to the longer wait.

   He said the additional cost ranges between RM50 and RM70 per container. Amaiappan also said the lesser number of trips had forced prime mover drivers to seek higher paying driving jobs.

   “The drivers are based on incentive per move. The standard operating procedure is for prime movers to do three moves per day. Today, they are doing 1.7 moves a day. This means drivers can’t generate the income. So they resort for other driving jobs,” he said.

   In May last year, two non-intrusive instrument scanners worth RM24 million were fitted at NBCT’s entry and exit points to check for contrabands. The scanners were activated in September.

   The use of the scanners had allowed RMCD to foil over 6,000 smuggling and tax evasion cases in 2016, seizing items worth approximately RM425 million.