1st September 2021 – The Covid-19 pandemic with the lockdown orders in Malaysia and around the world has given rise to unprecedented challenges for ports, hauliers and freight forwarders, and urgency must be given to digitalization of processes to overcome these challenges, says the Association of Malaysian Hauliers (AMH).

Soo Chee Yeong, President of AMH said, “Digital transformation by logistic players in the import and export industry is important to resolve the turmoil currently faced by ports and supply chains to ensure safety, efficiency and productivity. We have observed that ports and its supporting industries that invest in automation and digitalization have benefited from increased resilience over the past year”.

Soo added that both Port Klang’s ports are still congested, especially during the government-imposed Movement Control Order (MCO) and the National Recovery Phase 1 lockdown that is still in force in Selangor, and he urged freight forwarders and hauliers to migrate from manual processes to paperless systems like LinkHaul so that supply chain disruptions caused by lockdowns can be reduced and efficiency at ports can be improved.

“The past year has been very trying for hauliers and freight forwarders. Not only are their business operations disrupted by the pandemic, but they also need to constantly ensure the safety of their workers and compliance to the government-ordered standard operating procedures (SOPs). By harnessing the use of technology where data is real-time and easily accessed via an app that comes equipped with QR code scanning and a secure payment gateway, time consuming and manual processes that require physical contact can be done away with. This will also help reduce the risk of Covid-19 virus transmission among workers”, said See Soon-An, Managing Director of Link Effect (M) Sdn Bhd, which developed the LinkHaul system.