| Hakim Hayat |
CHARGES for shipment of goods into the country are higher than those in neighbouring countries due to the low volume of shipment and the way the international logistic system works, which is beyond Brunei’s control, the Minister of Communications YB Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Mustappa bin Haji Sirat said yesterday.
The minister was responding to an issue raised by YB Pengiran Haji Ali bin Pengiran Maon, Penghulu of Mukim Berakas ‘B’ on the third day of the 13th Legislative Council (LegCo) session yesterday. The LegCo member said with the mushrooming of online businesses in the country, the public are lamenting that costs to ship goods into Brunei are still expensive compared to costs in our neighbouring countries, sometimes even costing more than the item being shipped.
YB Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Mustappa said as the global economy expands, the freight and shipping companies are more inclined to cater to more rapidly growing economies such as Malaysia and Singapore due to the large volume of the shipments which allows them to reduce the costs of shipping.
He said the challenge in Brunei is the low volume, which makes us dependant on the international logistic systems, which incurs charges and is also time-consuming. However, he said a number of private companies in the country already offer fast and reliable shipping services such as FedEx, UPS and DHL as they have a global and efficient network.
The minister also shared that Brunei is looking to partner with Singapore in the Universal Union Postal Service to ensure all postal mails from countries as far as the US arrive faster in the country.
File photo shows an aerial view of the Muara Commercial Port . – AZROL AZMI
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