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PETALING JAYA: Steps taken by the Port Klang Authority (PKA) to reduce congestion at its ports, particularly in Westport, have paid off, says Datuk Chong Sin Woon.
The PKA president said the congestion was mainly caused by external factors in December.
“On December 28, the Transport Ministry led a task force led by PKA to identify the root causes,” he said.
Chong said the measures resulted in various improvements as of January 8 and PKA will continue to do so in anticipation of the increase in goods entering the port in the run-up to Chinese New Year in February.
Measures include increasing the manpower of the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (Maqis) to speed up the inspection of the contents of containers.
Chong said the move resulted in refrigerated yards being less congested as containers were being collected at faster rates.
“The additional labor allowed 100% of all locked containers to be inspected and released in one day, a huge improvement over 60% previously.
“The collection of reefer containers by carriers and consignees has also improved significantly with almost 50% delivered within 24 hours of the issuance of entry passes. This has led to better utilization of the cold store, which has dropped to 95% from 100% last week, “Chong said in a statement on Sunday (January 10).
He added that freight forwarders and importers have also stepped up their efforts to remove import containers from the port early to avoid storage in the port area, causing yard utilization rates to drop from 90% to 82%. %.
“The Customs Department has also deployed additional officers to expedite the clearance of import and export documents, in addition to assigning special counters for references and perishable goods,” he said.
Chong added that the improvements have also resulted in shorter wait times for ships to dock.
“In December 2020, the average waiting time for a ship to dock was five days. This has improved significantly in the last week with ships now able to dock within 24 hours of arrival at the outer anchorage,” said.
In December, a group of fruit and vegetable importers, wholesalers and retailers raised concerns about congestion in Westport and were concerned that situations could worsen in the run-up to the Chinese New Year holidays if not remedied.
Many were concerned about the shortage in the market, as well as not being able to offer customers the freshest possible products.
In that month’s statement, PKA CEO Captain K. Subramaniam said additional measures were being implemented to ensure more attention is paid to refrigerated containers containing food and other perishable goods, also known as reefer containers.
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