JOHOR BARU: Truckers, who have been putting up with long queues at the Second Link checkpoint since early this month, had a respite during the Chinese New Year break and now hope for a long-term solution to the gridlock.
The congestion, which came about after the introduction of mandatory scanning for all heavy vehicles, led to the authorities designating a huge holding area at the Sultan Abu Bakar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (KSAB) – the land checkpoint of the Second Link – for the lorry drivers.
However, these drivers say that this is merely a temporary measure to ease the bottleneck.
They complained about having to walk some 500m after parking their lorries at the holding area to submit their documents at the KSAB, and then get back to their vehicles and drive through the scanner at the checkpoint.
The traffic snarl was highlighted in The Star on Feb 13 in a report about 3,000 lorries being trapped in the congestion each day, sometimes up six hours, just to pass through the Second Link.
There is only one scanner at KSAB for lorries heading to Singapore.
The island republic, on the other hand, has six scanners for lorries entering the country.
Johor Trucking Association president Chan Pei Yoon, when contacted, called for urgent upgrade of the facilities at KSAB, including installing more scanners.
“We are not against the enforcement being done by the Malaysian Border Control and Protection (AKPS) but they have to be flexible so that our shipments to Singapore are not disrupted,” she said.
“The round-the-clock scanning, which started before Chinese New Year, caught us by surprise. Some of the drivers were held up for six hours at KSAB,” she said.
AKPS has been operating the scanner since the end of last year.
According to some lorry drivers then, the scanning would stop if traffic began to build up.
However, mandatory scanning was implemented since early this month.
A Home Ministry official previously explained that the 24-hour scanning was being done to check for smuggling activities.
Attempts have been made to contact AKPS about the latest situation.
Chan said that many truckers would now head to the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar CIQ, also known as BSI (Johor Causeway), to avoid the traffic congestion at the Second Link.
This despite them having to pay the goods vehicle levy (GVL), which is four times the RM50 charged at KSAB for each lorry, she said.
KSAB has been the preferred checkpoint for lorries since 2018 when Malaysia reduced the GVL for commercial vehicles from RM200 to RM50 for both entry and exit at the Second Link.
The GVL at the Johor Causeway is capped at a maximum of RM200 for exit and RM100 for entry.
There is no GVL for fresh produce.
(Entry means goods imported into Malaysia from Singapore while exit is for goods being exported to the island republic.)
Presently, more than 3,000 lorries use the Second Link while 1,500 lorries ply the Causeway daily.
Johor Transport and Logistics Operators’ Association president Frankie Chia Jee Onn said the holding area for lorries at the Second Link is not a viable long-term solution. Overall, there have only been minor improvements to the situation, he said.
“We will be writing to seek a dialogue with the checkpoint authorities to find a solution to this problem,” he said.
A driver known only as Andy said the authorities should find ways to ease the movement of goods between Malaysia and Singapore.
“It is tiring for us to be stuck at KSAB for hours to clear Customs.
“Now they ask us to move to this huge holding bay and make us walk under the rain or hot sun to clear the paperwork before driving through the scanner,” he said.
The situation on Tuesday was better as after 10.30am, all lorries were allowed to enter Singapore without scanning, he said.
