Johor Port Authority and Port of Tanjung Pelepas collaborate to open PPVIN for maritime and logistics industry workers in Johor

3 August 2021, Gelang Patah –– Johor Port Authority (LPJ) and Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), a member of MMC Group have set up Industry Vaccination Centre (PPVIN) for maritime and logistics sector workers, in support of the national COVID-19 immunisation programme (PICK).

The programme is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) together with the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) and Ministry of Health (KKM) with LPJ and PTP to act as the co-host of the PPVIN.

Open daily from 8.30am to 5.00pm, the PPVIN located at Wisma B PTP will operate from 3rd August 2021, today until 11 October 2021. The centre is set to accommodate up to 1,000 capacity daily and approximately 27,000 vaccine recipients until end of the programme.

The new PPVIN had earlier visited by YB Datuk Seri Ir. Dr Wee Ka Siong, Transport Minister. Also present during the walkabout session were YB Datuk Haji Hasbi bin Haji Habibollah, Deputy Minister of Transport, Tuan Haji Rosnan Bin Fathlal, LPJ Chairman and other Federal and State government officials.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ir. Dr Wee Ka Siong said the purpose of this centre and other PPVINs all over the country is to help the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) and ensure that frontline workers in the maritime and logistics sector, specifically in Johor are vaccinated as quickly as possible.

“LPJ and PTP readiness, proactive drive in ensuring the success of this effort as well as PTP’s strategic location surrounded by industrial locality have definitely helped us to decide and made further coordination with the relevant parties to quickly reduce the impact of COVID 19 pandemic”.

“The PPVIN will not only benefit the economic front liners including employees, contractors, customers, stakeholders and other industry players in Johor but also to further expedite efficient delivery and safe movement of goods to further spur the nation’s economic wellbeing,” added him.

Kamaruzaman Bin Munasir, LPJ General Manager during the PPVIN launching stated that given that the Transportation & Logistics Sector has been classified as essential by MOT and the National Security Council (NSC), it is imperative for the port authority to jointly collaborate with the port operator and other stakeholders in taking proactive measures to ensure that day to day activities are not affected. He expressed many thanks to the MOT who fully supported the application of LPJ and PTP to open PPVIN in PTP and subsequently put forward this application to MOSTI and CITF for approval.

“The opening of this industry PPVIN is therefore a great example of synergy between the authority and port operators to work together in fighting the war against this global pandemic and provide safe working environment of those working in the sectors.”

Marco Neelsen, PTP Chief Executive Officer remarked that PTP is very grateful that MOT, MOSTI, MOH, CITF and Johor State Government had given the nod to open a temporary PPVIN centre at its premise to aid for the massive maritime and logistics industry sector population in the fight against the pandemic.

“PTP fully embrace the opportunity to be involved in PICK and to be able to further serve the state of Johor and the nation. The strategic location of the port and with the modern state of the art facilities it provided make it easier and more comfortable in accommodating to vaccine recipients’ diverse needs and requirements.”

“The opening of the VVPIN will not only serve our commitment to serve the state of Johor and the nation in achieving herd immunity to end the pandemic but also to further extend our CSR reach towards the sustainability of our surrounding community with the proactive participation of our staff as volunteers of the PPVIN centre throughout the programme.”

Speaking on the vaccine distribution, Marco Neelsen also explained that as Malaysia’s leading Ports & Free Zone operator, PTP currently employ more than 5,000 employees with approximately another 1,000 to 3,000 contractors working in our terminal on a daily basis. On the other hand, PTP Pelepas Free Zone, situated adjacent to the terminal has also becoming such an important global and regional hub to Malaysia and specifically Johor that it houses more than 40 companies which employ 11,000 people in the vicinity.

“Therefore, we are very pleased that our request and offer to open PPVIN for this massive industry population and at the same time able to aid and accommodate to other related sector workers in Johor to get their much-needed vaccines accordingly,” added him.