FOR weeks now, since the end of March, shipping in and out of Kuching has been paralysed, supposedly by a computer system malfunction triggered by water seepage.
As the problem drags on, the costs to all port users are piling up. A full month into this serious glitch affecting the Senari Port, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing, who also takes charge of the state Infrastructure and Ports portfolio, finally issued an apology.
With the premier harbour serving the state capital and main commercial hub thus stricken, the big question is who should be liable for the losses which have been conservatively estimated at over RM100 million industry wide, and counting.
Shippers have taken to imposing congestion surcharges. Hauliers have likewise imposed a "port waiting surcharge". This only aggravates increased price burdens on consumers related to the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Sarawak Forwarding Agencies Association president Joseph Chung warned a week ago that "other parties in the logistics community may come up with similar charges, as a consequence of the failure of Senari Port".
If the state government has acknowledged that the fault lies with the Kuching Port Authority (KPA), which runs Senari Port, it should logically be considering compensating affected port users for losses incurred instead of telling them to absorb the losses, as Dr Masing has done.
This latest port-service hiccup is something of a last straw for many port users, opening the floodgates to a series of other complaints now being publicly aired through the local media. In a joint statement, associations representing shippers and ship owners from throughout the nation complained that the port's service levels had not improved over time due to lack of investments to upgrade ageing equipment and its information technology systems.
The statement promised periodic follow-up statements to keep the public apprised until KPA's service performance levels come up to scratch. The frustrations go beyond Kuching as port disruptions here have a knock-on effect as shipping vessels stuck at Senari are unable to continue with further port calls throughout Sarawak and Sabah.
Moreover, dissatisfaction has also been voiced that promised dredging of the approaches to the riverine Senari Port has not been done despite KPA having imposed a fee towards doing it.
This seems to be a recurring issue not just in Kuching but also with other riverine ports in Sibu and Miri. Ports being the vital lifeblood of commerce, they cannot be left solely to the devices of the flailing port authorities.
The travails besetting Senari Port must be a wake-up call to the state government to address all these port related issues, which are certainly not unique to just this port.
An overall review of the operations of the various ports under the charge of the state is urgently required.
This must include raising questions as to whether the major riverine ports in Kuching, Sibu and Miri can continue to adequately serve the state's needs with any semblance of efficiency going forward.
The tens of billions of ringgit being invested in the Pan Borneo Highway ought to be viewed as a real game-changer in overhauling the entire logistics infrastructure in Sarawak.
Instead of relatively small coastal vessels discharging cargo at Kuching, Sibu and Miri and serving each of these ports' miniscule hinterlands, it is surely time to turn Bintulu Port into the single-hub port serving the whole of Sarawak, with containers dispersed from there throughout the state via land-based haulage instead.
Such a move will bring economies of scale to a single point of call in the state for shippers, increasing the likelihood that mainline shippers will be sufficiently attracted to make regular direct calls in Sarawak.
The state government will naturally need to work with its federal counterpart, which runs the state's only deep-water harbour in Bintulu, on ways to upgrade and augment the facilities there so it can take on the whole state as its hinterland.
It is high time Sarawak think outside the box so its port amenities facilitate and not hinder its overall development.
The writer views developments in the nation, region and wider world from his vantage point in Kuching, Sarawak