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He said Sarawak had a high number of shipping companies and shipbuilding activities in the state.
He said the reintroduction of cabotage in Sarawak meant that only domestic vessels would be allowed to transport goods between ports in Peninsular Malaysia and those in Sabah and Sarawak.
Loke said an exemption from the cabotage policy was introduced in June 2017 allowing foreign vessels to transport goods from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak.
However, there was a misconception that it disallowed foreign vessels from directly calling at Sabah and Sarawak ports.
“Previously, there was a policy designating Port Klang as the national load centre, but I have clarified that we no longer apply this policy … Foreign vessels can now call at any port in the country without issue,” he said.
“The policy is akin to our domestic airline regulations. For example, international airlines are not allowed to operate flights between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching, Sarawak; only Malaysian airlines can provide such services.
“However, international airlines can operate flights directly to Sabah and Sarawak, like Singapore Airlines flying to Kuching or airlines from China and South Korea flying to Kota Kinabalu,” Loke said.
The reintroduction of cabotage, requested by the Sarawak government, “is intended to protect local shipping companies and boost their confidence in investing in new vessels for the local market”, he said.
Loke noted that the exemption of the cabotage policy in 2017 did not help reduce the prices of consumer goods in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
“The exemption, opening up competition to foreign vessel operators, led to many local shipping companies being unable to compete, resulting in them ceasing operations,” he said.
Loke was speaking to reporters after the inaugural call of a newly-built container vessel, the MTT Bitangor, at Port Klang.
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