KUALA LUMPUR: A new, systematic and effective system will be put in place to boost commercial shipping in the country.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said this would be implemented at the Custom’s Department’s level to ease transactions at the nation’s ports.
"The shipping services here are very slow and inefficient. We need to change that to a new systematic and efficient system, where shipping businesses can be done at one place.
"We want to make the country a one stop centre for all the vessels to harbour and do their businesses here. We want to make it more harmonised for our industry,” Aziz said at the launch of the Seafarer’s Day here today.
He said the new system is still under discussion with the Finance Ministry, Marine Department and Customs Department.
"We hope to implement this new system by early next year," he added.
Meanwhile, Azis said the government had doubled the scholarship amount for seafarers from RM300,000 to RM600,000, through the Kumpulan Wang Pusat Perdagangan Laut (KWPPL).
He said the scholarship would encourage more local youngsters to be involved in industry and to assist the local seafarers in their businesses.
There are about 50 per cent of foreign seafarers here in the country compared to the local ones, he said.
"We hope that this industry can be filled up with more local seafarers and I urge the younger generations to grab this opportunity," he said.
Present at the event were Marine Department director-general Datuk Baharin Abdul Hamid and director (seafarer's affairs) Datuk Capt.Jailani Jalal.