Terminals to take over licensing
Effective Jan 1, all new licences and renewals of registration issued for ancillary services in Port Klang will be done by the terminal operators – Northport (M) Bhd and Kelang Multi Terminal Sdn Bhd. Currently, it is done by the Port Klang Authority (PKA). The licences issued number around 15 and include, among others, licences for tally clerk services and lashing and stevedoring. However, according to a PKA official, they will remain as an arbitrator and mediator in the event of any conflict. “The licensing is being handed over to Northport and Westport so that they will know exactly who the ancillary suppliers are. “This will allow them to have a better relationship with them, because at the moment, when PKA issues licences, a lot of the time the terminal operators don't even know who the licensees are. “In this way, the suppliers will be able to meet standards that are set by the terminal operators and indirectly improve the service level, as only those who meet these standards will remain,” he said in response to the question of whether or not this change in the system would result in an increase in the number service providers. The question of whether there would be an abuse of power did not arise as PKA would still remain as authority with the final say on any matter in the event of a dispute, he said. “If any dispute is taken up to PKA and it is found that the terminal operators have conducted unfairly, then the PKA still has the power to overrule their decision,” he said. This would be very welcome news to the Union of Employees of Port Ancillary Services Suppliers (UNEPASS), who have been strictly against the idea ever since PKA made their initial announcement in Dec 2003. UNEPASS secretary A. Balasubra-maniam had said earlier that PKA should reconsider their decision and continue to play their role as a regulatory body rather than shift the function to the terminal operators. “The new ruling is going to create confusion and inconvenience to the ancillary companies as each terminal operator will impose their own rules and regulations in registering companies. “If PKA shift their functions to terminal operators then there is no meaning in calling the PKA a regulatory body,” he said. UNEPASS, in a memorandum to the PKA general manager Datin Paduka O.C. Phang, voiced their dissatisfaction on the handling of the issue, and questioned the legality of the move. They quoted sections 2 and 9 of the Ports (Privatisation) Act, 1990, saying that Parliament had seen fit to give the power to license port undertakings to PKA and that this power could not be delegated to anybody else. It also stated that the future of the existing ancillary services providers looked bleak, owing to the fact that terminal operators might impose restrictions on their activities, as the terminal operators themselves had established ancillary services of their own and were trying to market a package of services under a consolidated rate. Speaking from PKA's point of view, the PKA official said that PKA couldn't understand what all the hue and cry was about. “We have discussed the issue in the meeting that we conducted previously and at that time not many questions were raised. So, why is there such an outcry now?” he said. “The whole idea is to increase productivity from levels at which they are at the present moment,” he said. By Marc Lourdes |