PUTRAJAYA: Israel shipping company ZIM, which has now been banned from docking at any Malaysian port, will have to manage its own 4,000 containers stranded in Port Klang.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the company involved was responsible for all the transit containers that needed to be removed.
"So far, there are 4,000 containers still stranded at Port Klang, particularly at Westport, that should be removed by this shipping company, and these 4,000 containers are transhipment containers that they should take out.
"When we issued the ban, the shipping company should contact other shipping companies to remove their containers to head to the next destination."
He said this at a press conference after witnessing the signing of the lease agreement between MRT Corp and the Federal Land Commissioner for the MRT Kajang and Putrajaya lines today.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government had imposed a ban on Israeli shipping company ZIM from docking at any Malaysian port, effective immediately.
Anwar said the ban was a direct response to Israel's actions, which had been deemed a violation of basic humanitarian principles and international law through continuous massacres and atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The ban affects ZIM, which was scheduled to dock in Westport, Port Klang, on Dec 26.
When asked whether the shipping company was obligated to manage their containers following the ban, Loke stressed that they needed to take responsibility.
"In the near future, they need to (remove the containers), but we also provide some time because these 4,000 containers are not heading to a single destination or port only.
"So, it's not like one shipping company can resolve all 4,000 simultaneously. In this matter, we are giving them a bit of time to remove them," he added.