Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysia Offshore Support Vessels Owners Association (OSV Malaysia) has called upon the Malaysian Ship Owners Association (MASA) and Transport Ministry to tighten the cabotage policy and plug gaps in the rules.
OSV Malaysia president Dr Jamal Yusof said the cabotage policy in Malaysia is very weak in terms of protecting the Malaysian market and it affects the shipbuilders and shipowners and many other service industries related to the marine industry, specifically the offshore support vessels (OSV) industry.
Yusof pointed out that lots of money and services in the OSV industry have been repatriated out of Malaysia while many Malaysian marine crew are not working in Asian waters as foreign investors come in with Indonesian and Filipino crew.
"It's affecting our employment figures in terms of mariners in Malaysia and the onus of controlling the domestic shipping license falls with MASA. We feel that MASA should take a more active role in tightening up the cabotage policy. We're talking about Malaysian interest here in terms of employment, business opportunity, investment opportunity not only for the yards but for the financiers, the banks as well. So the impact to the Malaysian economy is huge. There's a knock-on effect of some RM28bn if we can close up the holes of the policy," Yusof told local media. [22/05/14]
