KUCHING: The shipping problems between Malaysia and foreign countries have prompted Japanese firm Daiken Corp to hire a cargo ship to bring its medium density fibreboard (MDF) manufactured in Sarawak to Japan.

       With the chartered cargo ship, Daiken can ship the MDF direct from Sarawak to Yokkaichi Port in Japan without having to stop at any other ports for the first time.

       “Due to a delay at a port of transhipment, there are many MDF unshipped which have been affecting sales in Japan. The problem of transhipment in Malaysia affects two companies called Daiken Sarawak Sdn Bhd and Daiken Miri Sdn Bhd, which produce MDF of tropical hardwood,” according to Japan Lumber Reports (JLR).

       The trade journal said container ships from Sarawak normally stop at Johor Baru port for the goods transhipment to Japan. It said a delay in transhipment of wood products also occur in other ports like Kaoshiung or Taipei (Taiwan), Busan (Korea) and Shanghai (China).

       Sarawak exported 179,786 cubic meters (cu m) of MDF worth RM333.6mil (free on board value) in 2021. The bulk of the exports or 115,493 cu m valued at RM225.9mil went to Japan, according to export data from Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corp.

       Last month, Daiken chartered a 9,000-tonne vessel “Apollo Beni” to bring 3,000 cu m of plywood and 6,000 cu m of MDF from Indonesia to Nagoya via Yokkaichi Port. Due to the direct voyage, it took only two weeks instead of a month normally for the wood products to arrive in Japan from Indonesia.

       According to JLR, securing shipping space on the (Malaysia) Sarawak-Japan route was difficult, and even if there was available tropical logs, there was no means of transporting the timber to mills in Japan.

       “Some (importers) are transporting Malaysian logs through Taiwan. By difficulty of obtaining containers, some orders are delayed for a month,” added the report, which is reproduced by International Tropical Timber Organisation Tropical Timber Market Report.

       In addition to the difficulties to secure shipping space and empty containers to load the goods, Japan importers are reportedly having to struggle with the soaring ocean freight since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic about two years ago.

       Commenting on the recent decision by Sabah to resume exporting tropical logs after the ban imposed four years ago, JLR said many Japanese companies were not “really interested” in the move.

       It was reported that the Sabah authorities had allowed from last month up to 20% of harvested logs from natural forest that could be exported in a year. The Sabah government banned logs export in May 2018.

       Before the ban, Japan was a key importer of tropical logs from Sabah. Out of 146,806 cu m of tropical logs imported by Japan in 2017, some 71,202 cu m or 48.5% were sourced from Sabah.

       “After Sabah banned exporting logs in 2018, Japan looked for another source, Papua New Guinea. But it did not work because Papua New Guinea has announced they would ban exporting logs too.

       “All these factors affected a Japanese plywood company named Daishin Gouban Kogyo in Japan to stop manufacturing plywood of tropical logs. This is the last large South Sea (tropical) log consuming plant,” added JLR.

       The report said the supply of tropical logs in Japan has shrunk as the total volume for the first 11 months of 2021 was down to 20,871 cu m.

       “There is still uncertainty about whether the logs would be exported from Malaysia due to Covid-19 spreading in Malaysia even now and a lack of workers. So, many Japanese companies are not really interested in reopening of exporting tropical logs from Sabah,” said JLR.