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Malacca Strait navigation fund falls $2.1m short
by Marcus Hand - Monday 24 November 2008
Nippon Foundation chairman Yohei Sasakawa: the foundation has contributed $2.5m to the navigational safety fund.
The landmark voluntary fund to pay for equipment and its maintenance in one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes, contributed by users, user states and stakeholders, requires a budget of $8m, but as yet only $5.9m has been pledged.
The largest contribution of $2.5m comes from the key industry benefactor the Nippon Foundation which has been funding navigational safety in the Straits for over 40 years, and has spearheaded the drive for users to pay their share.
Greece and the Middle East Navigation Aids Service have both pledged $1m each, the latter contribution is being flagged up by the Round Table of shipping organisations, comprising the International Chamber of Shipping, Bimco, Intercargo and Intertanko, as the industry’s indirect contribution.
“What better organisation could there be to make a contribution to aids to navigation than a shipowner-funded organisation with almost a century of proven expertise in this field? This is a clear example of how the circumstances are being changed to match wider expectation in the industry,” ICS chairman Spyros Polemis told the International Symposium on safety and protection of the marine environment in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, being held in Kuala Lumpur.
Officially MENAS, which funds navigational aids in the Middle East via the payment of light dues from shipowners, was notably absent from the meeting.
A pledge of $700,000 was made at the symposium by the Japanese Shipowners’ Association, bringing the total to $5.9m. However this amount still leaves the fund requiring $2.1m for its 2009 budget.
“It was therefore decided to ask for further contributions from the strait user nations and concerned parties, although ultimately the littoral states budget will cover any shortage of Funds should it prove necessary,” said Mitsuo Nakamoto, director general of JSA.
In the past the cost of navigational safety in the Malacca and Singapore Straits was entirely covered by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and the Nippon Foundation, however with many of the 90,000 vessels that pass through the straits merely in transit and of no benefit to the coastal nations there has been a push for users and users states to contribute.
“I think that it is most fitting that the people who should benefit most from the use of the straits should also co-operate to ensure that the straits continue to be safe and open to shipping,” said Malaysian Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat.
“I am confident that we will see some tangible contributions from [the Round Table of shipping industry organisations] and hope this will encourage others to emulate.”
For its part, the industry is looking to importing and exporting nations to stump up for paying for navigational safety in the Straits.
“However the ultimate beneficiaries of safe and efficient passage of ships through the Straits of are the countries whose imports and exports depend on this vital trade route. I suggest that they also have an important role in supporting the work of the littoral government,” Mr Polemis said.
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