MAS sacks cargo vice-president, industry happy

comments     Tony Thien     Published     Updated

"The best Christmas gift for the industry".

These words from Airfreight Forwarders Association of Malaysia (Afam) chairman Walter Culas best summed up the industry's immediate reaction to news that MAS vice-president for cargo Ralph Gotz, a German, had been sacked with a 24-hour notice by the MAS board of directors on Thursday last week.

Gotz was brought in by MAS chairman Tajudin Ramli in February last year to take charge of MasKargo Sdn Bhd, the airline's wholly-owned subsidiary, when it moved from Subang to Sepang.

He was earlier with a equipment system company which helped with the installation of the cargo-handling equipment at the state-of-the-art MAS Advanced Cargo Centre (ACC) in Sepang. According to industry sources, he came with little or no experience in the air cargo industry.

Since joining MAS, he kept an aloof posture, and was seen as intolerant to criticisms. This led to him ignoring the Afam, preferring to deal instead with the Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders (FMFF) as well as the Penang Freight Forwarders Association (PFFA).

Some of his actions were seen as pitting one association against another, leading to some ill-feelings between officials of both Afam and FMFF on representation issues.

Move ill-timed

The last straw for Afam came more than a month ago when MasKargo decided to raise certain charges and failed to consult Afam most of whose members, including many multi-nationals based in both KL and Penang, are users of MasKargo facilities and services in both places.

MasKargo went ahead with the rate increases only after obtaining a green-light from FMFF. Many industry players protested, and MasKargo later relented in the case of Penang by postponing some of the increases, especially the implementation of terminal charges.

Industry players said MasKargo's move as a whole was ill-timed because of uncertainties in country's economic prospects next year. The only issue they agreed on was the fuel surcharge which all other airline operators have varied from time to time because of the continuing rise in fuel costs.

Afam's Walter Culas said there is no need for MAS to look abroad for Gotz's replacement. "I am aware there are at least four capable Malaysians within the airline who can take over," he said.

The industry was "fed up" with the repeatedly "unfulfilled promises" made by Gotz to improve the service levels at ACC. This, it has been claimed, led to the loss of some of the business to Singapore.

Spider network

Between them, both KLIA and Penang handle about 650,000 tonnes of cargo annually. But it is believed this could be higher if the leakages to Singapore had been plugged with better and more efficient services at the ACC in Sepang.

News of the German's sacking by MAS spread like wildlife across the industry both within Malaysia and Singapore and across the entire region as MasKargo is fast becoming a major player.

It has set up cargo hubs in Europe based in Hahn, Germany, and in the Middle East at the Sharjan International Airport, after shifting out of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

This is part of what it calls a spider network extending from Australia to Malaysia and from the Middle East to Europe, a total area covering one third of the world.

Afam has been annoyed that instead of concentrating on improving its services at Sepang, MasKargo seemed to have been focusing only on setting up new hubs overseas.

Gotz's departure is seen by market analysts as the beginning of a major overhaul within MAS management following four years of continuous losses suffered by the airline.

Brunei has just sold its 9 percent equity stake in MAS for RM280 million or RM4 apiece.

Glory days

This will make it difficult for the government to justify paying Tajudin twice the price to buy him out completely otherwise it will be seen as another major bailout of a Malaysian corporate personality closely aligned to Umno, particularly the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Market talk is that government will in turn sell the shares to foreign parties, including either Qantas or Swiss Air. Talk is that prospective buyers prefer not to deal with Tajudin indicating that there are third parties involved.

It is also understood that the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance are not keen to pay RM8 per share that Tajudin has asked for.

Officials say the government's priority is to get MAS back on its feet again, return into the black, improve its image and reputation both at home and abroad, and regain its glory days.

On top of all this there is a need to lift staff morale.


TONY THIEN is a freelance writer based in Kuching.



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