By Olivia Miwil
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government will implement 10 interim action plans to address congestion at the Sapangar Bay Container Port (SBCP), State Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship and Transportation Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick said.
He said the measures include expanding the container yard capacity, introducing new tariff rates, enforcing regulations on containers that exceed the permitted storage period, and reducing the free container storage period during peak seasons.
The task force committee, which Ewon will chair, will also oversee the provision of a trailer parking site at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), implementation of the Vehicle Booking System (VBS), 24-hour operations by government agencies at SBCP, upgrading of port equipment, relocation of Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo) operations from SBCP to Kota Kinabalu Port, and implementation of the Berthing Window Programme (BWP).
Ewon said this in response to questions from Datuk Wong Hong Jun (Warisan-Tanjung Aru) and Datuk Donald Peter Mojuntin (Upko-Moyog) on DP World Sabah's operational performance and the state government's measures to address congestion at Sapangar Port during the Sabah State Legislative Assembly sitting today.
"The ministry remains committed to monitoring the effectiveness of these interim plans from time to time and will provide concrete solutions to congestion at SBCP.
"The smooth flow of logistics is expected to minimise overall handling costs and prevent any increase in the prices of goods that could burden the people of Sabah," he said.
On DP World Sabah's performance, Ewon said the main objective of the strategic partnership between Sabah Ports Sdn Bhd (SPSB) and DP World Sabah was to improve port operational efficiency and position SBCP as a major transhipment and trade hub in the BIMP-EAGA and intra-Asean regions.
He said the SBCP expansion project, originally scheduled for completion in February 2025, had experienced delays and was granted five extensions of time (EOTs).
Ewon said DP World Sabah took over management of the port in September 2024 while the expansion project was still incomplete, making it premature to conduct any performance study or formal audit to assess the company's success in transforming SBCP into a transhipment hub.
He said that since taking over SBCP operations, DP World Sabah had increased container yard capacity by 41 per cent, from 6,800 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 9,574 TEUs, through yard reorganisation and higher container stacking.
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