Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei needs to build up export volumes to expedite its goal of becoming a transshipment point and in the process improve connectivity among the shipping ports in the growth area BIMP-EAGA. "With Brunei being the centre of BIMP-EAGA (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area), we get laden (full) containers coming into Brunei but we export empty containers. We do have some export of garments to Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States, but we are trying to improve our volume by encouraging transshipment," said Hj Bujang Hj Tinkong, acting deputy ports director.

The volume can't be increase based solely on Brunei's market but with nearby ports in Miri and Limbang transshipment is possible, he added. "Normally, the shipping line will go to the Malaysian ports or Singapore ports and then change cargo to another ship, to have a direct line from these ports is not possible because of the volume of the market," he said.

"For passenger market (along the sea mutes), the business is reciprocal, where there is one operator from Brunei, one operator from Indonesia and so on, but for cargo, depending on the ship owner, if there is cargo to carry then only will they consider," he said. He added that some shipping operators do save on cost by shipping from Port Kiang to Brunei by stopping at Bintulu and transporting the cargo by land," he said.

It would be much cheaper to have a direct line from Port Kiang, however, Brunei needs to work together with Kuching to increase the volume to make it more economically viable to have a direct route, he explained.

"This will be our challenge, on coming up with solutions to encourage transshipment to How. Volume is important and we need to encourage volume to be able to promote it. If the ship owners smell money and cargo, of course they will come to us," he said.

He added that with the management of Muara Port by ICTSI (International Container
Terminal Services Inc), Brunei can expect more connectivity with Southern Philippine ports. "Speed is the most important thing in developing these routes because that is the missing link right now," said Pg Hj Yura Keseteria PSN Yusuf, head of national resources development cluster of the BIMP-EAGA Business Council. "Brunei has the advantage of having a deep sea port, and it is something that other regions don't have," he said.

"Hopefully within BIMP-EAGA, the big shipping operators will be attracted to operate ... because right now we do not have any routes to connect to places like Davao, Kalimantan and Brunei. The major routes are to Jakarta or
Singapore and then straight to China," he said.
"If transshipment is done within BIMP-EAGA, and also if there is a free trade zone within Brunei itself, I think that it will attract a lot of investors to set up office and transship their goods through Brunei, instead of going through Singapore," he said.

PgHj Yura added that BIMPEAGA is the "shadow of Asia" at the moment. "It it not yet well developed in terms of trade and investment but there are a lot of opportunities because there are a lot of resources within BIMP-EAGA."

-- Courtesy of Brunei Times

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