Penang Watch

Penang's iconic ferries has been run to a lose and planned for a sell-off?

Sunday March 30, 2008

Penang plans to scrap vehicular ferry service

BUTTERWORTH(Star):
The Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) will scrap the vehicular ferry service
between Penang island and Seberang Prai once the expansion of the
Penang Bridge is completed in September next year.

PPSB chief
operating officer Mohd Niana Merican Abd Kadir Merican said the
remaining four vehicular-cum-passenger ferries would continue to
operate despite suffering operating losses.

He said the company also planned to operate a speedboat ferry service as it was cheaper and efficient.

“The
speedboat idea was mooted three years ago. Travel time between the
island and mainland on speedboats will only take eight to 10 minutes
compared with 20 minutes using the ferry,” he told reporters at the
launching of free tuition classes for 141 of the port’s staff members
at Wisma Perkeso in Seberang Jaya yesterday.

PPSB, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of the Finance Ministry after its
corporatisation on Jan 1, 1994, has been incurring an annual loss of
RM12mil operating the ferries. It also manages the port.

Mohd
Niana said the company was losing about RM200 on each ferry trip,
adding that the operating cost was RM600 while revenue collected was
RM400.

He said the bridge would have three lanes on each side and a special motorcycle lane when the expansion work was completed.

“It
will be able to accommodate the huge traffic volume and as such, we
will be able to scrap the vehicular ferry services and reduce our
losses,” he added.

In November last year, PPSB held talks with
the ministry to take over the maintenance of ferry services. PPSB chief
executive officer Datuk Ahmad Ibnihajar said then that it had requested
for fuel subsidy and buying of catamarans to complement the ferry
services.

Ahmad also said the Government should emulate Hong
Kong where the municipality handled maintenance while the port
management focused only on giving better services to port users.

He
had also said that PPSB had to fulfil its social responsibility and
could not simply increase the ferry fares to recoup losses.