Local firms have expertise for undersea cable repairs, says Shipowners' Association

 

The cancellation of the cabotage exemption on foreign-flagged vessels performing submarine cable maintenance by the Ministry of Transport will encourage economic opportunities for local companies and safeguard the national interest.

In declaring this, the Malaysia Shipowners' Association (Masa) chairperson Abdul Hak Md Amin said local companies should be given a chance to utilise their expertise in the country's own waters.

"We have the capability, so give us a chance. There will be competition (among local companies), but that will also bring the cost to go down," Abdul Hak said at a media conference in Putrajaya today.

The cabotage exemption was imposed by the former transport minister Anthony Loke in April 2019 and it was revocated, with effect from Nov 15.

Back in March 2019, Loke justified that no Malaysian vessel had the ability to perform the submarine cable repair tasks swiftly, but recently, his successor, Wee Ka Siong, was adamant that Malaysia has its local expertise.

According to Masa, during the exemption period, all repairs in Malaysian waters on underwater cables landing in Malaysia were undertaken by a Singaporean registered-company, whereas Abdul Hak said Malaysian companies have four qualified and certified cableships.

"It is unjustifiable to say Malaysian companies do not have the capability to conduct subsea cable repairs.

"The revocation of the cabotage exemption will create opportunities for local companies and employment for the locals," Abdul Hak (centre, in photo above) said.

For the record, currently, Masa member Optic Marine Group is in the midst of registering a Malaysian-flagged cable laying vessel.

Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Malaysia Internet Exchange (MyIX) submitted a memorandum, dated Nov 20, to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, stating that Wee's decision would result in increased repair times, leading to hurting Malaysia's Internet stability.

Refuting the claims, Abdul Hak said the record of cable repairs done during the cabotage exemption period showed that the operations took between 29 and 48 days, far longer than the expected 27 days.

The revocation on cabotage exemption would not ban foreign vessels from carrying out undersea cable repairs. Wee had given his assurance that foreign vessels would be allowed to carry out repairs works if local vessels are unable to do them or were located too far from the areas where repairs were needed.

On the cabotage policy, Abdul Hak highlighted that it is a serious matter as it is linked to national interest.

"Cabotage is practised in a lot of countries. In fact, their cabotage policies are more tighter than ours. Indonesia has a tighter cabotage policy than us.

"We want to protect our industry. If we don't protect ourselves, who else can protect us?" he said. - Mkini