KUCHING: Businessman Aaron Tay Kok Tung is hoping that the Kuching Port Authority (KPA) would bear the port congestion surcharge imposed onto the merchants to reduce losses caused by the computer system failure at the Senari Terminal.
He explained that the incident (congestion) was mainly due to the failure of Senari Terminal’s computer system which led to some issues with the container handling, so merchants should not be the ones that need to bear the additional charges.
“The delay in container processing time has caused shipping companies to impose port congestion surcharges on import as well as export merchants.
“The surcharge for a 20-foot container is RM300 and a surcharge of RM600 is for a larger 40-foot container,” he said today (April 24).
Tay, who is also the director of Tay Motors (M) Sdn Bhd said that as far as his own motorcycle shop is concerned, there are currently many containers shipped from West Malaysia that cannot be taken out of the cargo ship due to the failure of the port’s computer system.
“Not only do they have to face the loss for the delayed delivery to their customers but additional charges are also now being levied.
“If import and export merchants are requested for these extra charges, these charges will inevitably be passed on to the goods and consumers would have to pay for it,” he said.
Therefore, Tay hoped that KPA could negotiate with the shipping company and bear the port congestion surcharges due to the failure of the port’s computer system.
“In addition to that, it is also hoped that KPA can upgrade the port’s computer system facilities including strengthening the computer’s backup facilities, in case of an emergency.
“They would need to improve the deficiencies of hardware facilities as well, including the insufficient or malfunctioning boom cranes, and lack of manpower operation, so as to speed up the movement of the containers in and out of the port in order to reduce the loss of businesses,” he said.
