Malaysia: Marine Department requires all vessels operating to activate AIS at all times
03 Feb 2021
The Southern Region Marine Department of Malaysia on Monday (1 February) issued Port Circular No. 02/2021 informing the maritime community that it will require all vessels approved to operate to activate their Automatic Identification System (AIS) at all times:
ENFORCEMENT OF MALAYSIA SHIPPING NOTICE (MSN) 05/2019
This Circular serves as a notification to inform that the Malaysia Shipping Notice (MSN) 05/2019 has been enforced for vessels sailing Malaysia waters.
All ships that have been given approval to operate for the activities specified under Section 491B shall ensure that the AIS system is always activated at all times.
3:04 PM MYT
SIBU: The Marine Department has exempted Sarawak from the Malaysia Shipping Notice (MSN 16/2020) where only double-hull double-bottom oil tankers are allowed to operate in the rivers and coastal waters.
State Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin said that this came about after his ministry sent an appeal letter on Nov 16 to seek an exemption on the double-hull double-bottom requirement for the state.
The Marine Department had on Aug 5 issued the notice to all relevant shipping parties in the country.
Lee said his ministry subsequently received complaints from the Sarawak Association of Maritime Industries (Samin) along with Sabah and Sarawak Shipowners Association (SSSA) that the notice has negative implications on Sarawak tanker shipowners and operators whose plying limits were confined to rivers and coastal waters.