|
Northport, which together with Westport makes up Malaysia's Port Klang, urged authorities to scrap plans to end a subsidy on container haulage from one terminal to another covering a maximum distance of 30 kilometres.
"We have requested PKA [Port Klang Authority] to reconsider its proposed move to withdraw the subsidy on the ITT [Inter Terminal Transfer] charges," said the Deputy Chief Executive of Northport Encik Haris Abdul Aziz.
"The development of the National Load Centre at Port Klang has been a cornerstone of the government's national port policy and therefore the proposed move to withdraw this subsidy could have serious implications for the development of national policy," said Mr Aziz.
Mr Aziz, in a public statement, explained the subsidy was devised as part of a national agenda and therefore should not be ended with a unilateral decision by a single port authority.
The decision 13 years ago by Port Klang Authority to subsidise container haulage between Northport and Westport was aimed at fostering the load centring at Port Klang and to promote the national port as a regional transshipment hub.
The ITT charges were introduced for the horizontal movement of containers by the hauliers between the two port terminals for containers that needed to be transferred, by rail or by road, between the terminals to secure onward transshipment connections provided either by mainline or feeder vessels. This was especially the case when Westport was established 30 kilometres away in 1992.
|
RELATED