04NOV2019 - NEWS - Straits Inter Logistics Bhd to study Sabah port Bunkering potential

Straits Inter Logistics Bhd (SILB) will venture into Sabah if the state can offer viable business options especially for bunkering services.

Group managing director Dato' Sri Ho Kam Choy said Sabah is geographically well-positioned to be a gateway for vessels plying between the Far East, Papua New Guinea, Solomon, Australia and New Zealand.

"It is ideally located in those particular routes. It has the potential to be a regional bunkering hub," he told the New Straits Times.

Ho was responding to recent statements by CMA CGM Malaysia Sdn Bhd managing director John Lim that Sabah was not on the main shipping route.

Lim also said there was this urgent need to make Sabah attractive to vessel owners if it aspired to be a shipping hub for the Far East.

Ho said it would take time for Sabah to be the regional bunkering hub.

"We will look into it and study the traffic around this route. Currently all our vessels are occupied in different ports, we shall consider purchasing more vessels if we can justify a business opportunity there in Sabah," Ho said, when asked if SILB sees Sabah as an opportunity to set up a bunkering business unit in the coming years.