Malaysia has potential to be maritime hub

By Jimmy Yeow

Malaysia can rival major regional maritime hubs such as Hong Kong and Singapore and boost its downstream sector by attracting ancillary services to support the domestic maritime industry, according to IT services company LogicaCMG’s chief executive officer Michael Warren.

“Malaysia is at the cusp of a major boom to its maritime business. Because of strong government support, it has the potential to be one of Southeast Asia's leading maritime nations,” he said.

While the likes of Port of Tanjung Pelepas, Westport, Northport and Penang Port expand healthily; major developmental works are also seen at North Butterworth Container Terminal, Kuantan Port and Bintulu Port offering ample business opportunities for the ancillary sector, he added.

In addition, Warren said the country's programmes to upgrade its maritime capability in defence by doling out contracts worth US$1 billion (RM3.5 billion) spells fresh opportunities for many downstream businesses.

These support services range from security, technology, logistics to training, human resource management and outsourced services, he added.

As an example, Warren cited there were many maritime support services within the sphere of security that can spring from Malaysia.

“Maritime certificate fraud is rapidly emerging as a key threat to the industry, and one that poses grave dangers for the wider international community. Forged ship documents and crew travel documents can easily be obtained, so security services will become more predominant,” he said.

Security services are just the tip of an iceberg. Other services can cater to haulage, freight forwarding or even manufacturing industries e.g. tracking, cost management," Warren said.

LogicaCMG provides global services in the finance; telecoms; energy and utilities; industry, distribution and transport; and the public sectors. Its systems are used in controlling the transfer of more than US$5 trillion per day, two thirds of text messages sent globally and a third of the world's satellites currently in orbit.

LogicaCMG's systems have been fundamental to the regulatory transformation of energy markets around the world. Its HR outsourcing services process more than US$100 billion of salaries globally each year.

In the maritime industry, LogicaCMG has served the Ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the Port of London Authority, the Bremer Lagerhaus Gesellschaft (the operating company for German Ports), the Associated British Ports Holding PLC, Lloyd’s of London Press, the Belgian and Dutch governments as well as Hong Kong-based shipping and logistics service company OOCL.

In Holland, it has developed and maintained a port management system that supports vessel movement control and advised the Port Authority of Amsterdam on possibilities of electronic services via the Internet.

LogicaCMG also developed an information processing system for the Belgian and Dutch government to plan and control cargo shipments of dangerous goods.

In Asia, OOCL appointed LogicaCMG to develop a global communications strategy to process data and provide global support through three regional data centres.