Sabah allows NCS ships enter ESSZone waters to conduct economic activities

KOTA KINABALU, March 2 -- The Sabah government allows non-convention ship (NCS) ships from Indonesia and the Philippines to enter the waters of the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZONE) and Malaysian NCS ships to sail through the ESSZONE waters to the two neighbouring countries starting from March 5.

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor said the permission was granted to enable the reimplementation of barter trade activities and transshipment after the economic activities were suspended since the Conditional Movement Control Order was enforced in the entire state on Oct 13 last year.

"Barter trade and transshipment are activities that contribute to the economy of Sabah...these activities generally use NCS ships mode of transportation to bring goods from Sabah to the Philippines and vice versa.

"To contain the COVID-19 infections from overseas, the use of NCS ships for barter trade economic activities and transshipment was suspended for a period previously," he said in a statement here, tonight.

However, Hajiji said all players in that economic sector must always comply with the strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) to avoid the emergence of new COVID-19 clusters in the future.

The SOPs are: the ship crew must be free of COVID-19; crew are not allowed to disembark for land and unloading process to be carried out by local companies; all ships entering or exiting must be through the fixed routes; and comply with SOPs, procedures as well as enforced laws. 

"With this permission, it is hoped that traders and entrepreneurs involved in the barter trade economy and transshipment are able to revive their business and contribute to the economy of Sabah.

"Always comply with the SOPs that have been set so that besides economic revival, we are able to break the COVID-19 transmission in the state," he said.

-- BERNAMA