Intermediary warehouses outside Malaysia’s ports are close to reach full capacity, while containers are being transported from ports, market sources in the country informed SSESSMENTS.COM. The president of the Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders (FMFF), Alvin Chua said FMFF members only deliver to companies with the approval from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to receive goods. Chua said that storage on Port Klang had declined from 70% of storage capacity to about 50% to 60%. This means that roughly 50,000 TEUs of mostly materials for the construction and automotive industries are still stuck at the port.
Chua noted that it is unlikely to deliver all goods in those containers by April 28, 2020, when the movement control order (MCO) is planned to end. He added that it required about five days to receive MITI approval and that does not necessarily mean the approved company can start operations fully again. MITI approval also covers certain industries and manufacturing activities. Chua added that logistics and transport companies are also required to apply for the approval. Only 65 of 1,300 FMFF members have received MITI approval.
Previously SSESSMENTS.COM reported that Malaysian converters had sought for the approval. They would restart production soon as they expected demand to improve. One of them said that it had requested for the approval on April 10, and by April 13, it had not received any response yet. The converter said the government now allows manufacturers to operate at 70% of capacity, raising the allowed rates from 50% previously.
