Logistics
MISC Launches 1st Halal Liner Service
By Associated Press
Sep 13, 2006, 23:26

MISC Launches 1st Halal Liner Service

By EILEEN NG Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia's MISC Berhad will launch the world's first halal shipping container service next week, carrying Australian and New Zealand beef and other food items that meet Islamic dietary requirements to the Middle East, officials said Wednesday.

The national shipping company is also building a 250 million ringgit (US$68 million, euro56.7 million) logistics hub with warehouses and other facilities that comply with Islamic standards in Port Klang, west of Kuala Lumpur, to tap into the lucrative global halal trade, officials say.

Halal food can be tricky to prepare because it requires ingredients that comply with special principles of hygiene and religiously approved way of slaughtering animals. But it is a big business among observant Muslims. Estimates put the global halal food industry at about US$500 billion (euro412 billion).

MISC's new ventures are expected to boost the ambitions of Malaysia, one of the biggest trading nations in the Muslim world, to become a regional center for the production and distribution of halal food by 2010.

The weekly Halal Express Service will cover ports from the Straits of Malacca to the Middle East and other areas, providing the first end-to-end halal supply chain in the region, said MISC senior executive for liner services Helmi Hamidon.

The first halal vessel will set sail Sept. 18 from Singapore and arrive at Malaysia's Port Klang on Sept. 20 where it will be officially launched, he told The Associated Press.

From Port Klang, it will go to Colombo and then to Jebel Ali in Dubai and Dammam in Saudi Arabia, carrying mainly halal beef from Australia and New Zealand as well as seafood from Southeast Asia, he said.

"MISC will be the first carrier in the world to launch a halal liner service. It's a niche market and will assure Muslim clients that everything onboard fully complies with recognized halal logistics standards," Helmi said.

Four container vessels are dedicated for the halal service and the number will be increased once demand grows, he said. Apart from food, he added the halal liner could also carry other halal products including cosmetics, clothing and pharmaceuticals.

To grow its halal business, MISC said its unit _ MISC Integrated Logistics Sdn. Bhd., or MILS _ is developing a dedicated logistics hub in Port Klang.

Spread over 47 acres, the hub will have three warehouses which will be completed by the end of this year, said MILS halal committee member Farhana Farthy.

By next year, the company hopes to have cold storage facilities, a unit to sterilize containers after each voyage, and a laboratory to test products to ensure they are not contaminated by elements such as alcohol and pork, she said.

Inspectors will be stationed there to certify products and all audits will comply with Islamic standards, she said.

"The combination of the Halal Express and Halal (logistics) Hub by MISC will serve the needs of the world's Muslim population for halal products," Farhana said.

In May, MILS signed a joint venture agreement with a Middle East company to build a smaller halal logistics hub in Dubai as part of its expansion, she added.

Malaysia has been aggressively marketing itself as a global centre for the manufacture and export of halal products. It has instituted strict halal certification and last year launched a standard which it hopes will be adopted globally.

© Copyright 2006 by halaljournal.com