Anthony Loke said the government is exempting permits for 54 out of 74 goods that were previously on the list. — Reuters pic

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 30 — Only 20 commodity items such as weaponry and firecrackers will require permits for transshipment at Malaysian ports, the transport minister announced today.

Anthony Loke said the government is exempting permits for 54 out of 74 goods that were previously on the list.

“Transhipment is when cargo ships only come to our ports for transit. The requirement to apply for the permits had not attracted the ships to use our ports as a transit hub.

“The items will be exempted once it is gazetted, and they are mainly of animals, food items and agriculture goods,” he told a press conference here.

Loke said the move was to boost the competitiveness of the ports and see more transshipment activities.

He said it would also strengthen Malaysia’s shipping connectivity index with global ports, which would boost the growth of the national port sector and the maritime downstream industry.

“This will be good for our port operators and shipping companies will appreciate the move by the government,” he said.