Nippon Foundation calls for Malacca Strait user fee

Nippon Foundation calls for Malacca Strait user fee Research institutions from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, supported by Japan’s Nippon Foundation, have called upon the shipping industry to make financial contributions to the navigational safety of the Malacca Strait, the world’s busiest maritime trade route.
   The 1,000-kilometer sea corridor is one of the most difficult regions in the world to navigate, with dangerous shallows, deceptive cross currents and occasional attacks by pirates. Traffic volume is projected to rise from 4 billion deadweight tons in 2004 to 6.4 billion dwt by 2020, which the Nippon Foundation said would increase the risk of accidents and maritime pollution.
   The idea of a cost-sharing scheme was proposed Wednesday in a consensus document, released at the end of a two-day symposium at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. The document urged that “shipping companies and other users recognize their corporate social responsibility towards the promotion of navigational safety and environmental protection of the straits, and voluntarily provide the necessary assistance to the littoral states.”
   Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of the Nippon Foundation, said, “if users paid just one cent per deadweight ton of shipping, $40 million would be raised each year. This revenue would eliminate the excessive and unfair burden born entirely by the littoral states, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
   “Such a system would guarantee that those who profit most from the waterway — the users — would help to pay for the maintenance of navigational safety,” Sasakawa said.
   The Nippon Foundation, which has contributed more than $125.5 million in assistance to the area of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, is prepared to set up a Malacca Straits Fund “to establish the necessary framework to ensure its effective operation.”
   The recommendations from the symposium will be reviewed at a follow-up meeting and then presented at the September meeting of the International Maritime Organization in Singapore as a private sector proposal.