SEPANG – A port operator will be admonished for wrongfully allowing a container owned by Israeli company ZIM to exit the port’s compound, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
This comes after a video of a container lorry bearing ZIM’s logo driving on a highway believed to be in Malaysia made the rounds on social media.
Confirming the incident, Loke said that while Putrajaya has banned ZIM’s vessels from anchoring in Malaysia, the shipping company still has containers stored in various ports here from previous operations.
“We’ve just received a report (detailing that) the port operator mistakenly allowed the release of one of ZIM’s containers. They will be reprimanded.
“(Port operators) have been given a stern warning to not allow ZIM containers to be released outside the ports,” Loke told a press conference, here today.
He also said only about four or five ZIM containers remain in Malaysia, after about 4,000 containers belonging to the company were recorded in the country last December.
The minister had previously instructed ZIM to contact other shipping companies to transport its containers to their next destination.
This came after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced in December last year the government’s immediate ban on ZIM vessels from anchoring in Malaysia, in response to Israel’s war on Gaza.
Ships that display the Israeli flag, or those heading to Israel, are also banned from docking or loading cargo at local ports. – March 18, 2024