GEORGETOWN, July 25 – Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng hold a press conference to told reporters about Penang State Government are still hopeful that the Ministry of Transport (MOT) Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai to address the matter amicably to ensure the Star Cruises ships remained at Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal.
“I hope that the ministry will play its role to attract back the cruises which trying to moving away from Swettenham Pier. The leaving of the cruises may affected the businesses and traders operating near the pier due to the cruises was bring in thousand of visitors to Penang that this was also means a lot for Penang’s tourism sector,” said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
“We does not want to end up the facility like the nearby Tanjong City Marina. So, we had made a report earlier which Penang government had refused to issue a land title which had hampered the expansion of the cruise terminal to the MOT at Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal with resulted the Star Cruises moving its flagship liner Superstar Libra’s homeport to Xiamen in China,” he added.
Since 2010, Superstar Libra has already been docking at Penang Port until now with a total of five years but the cruise service provider Genting Hong Kong Ltd has stopped its weekly cruises from July 15 and the ship will sail to a Chinese port from July 18 due to it was being attracted by perks and incentives offered by the Chinese government.
