The abolishment of the cabotage policy will pave the way for goods to be sold at a ‘competitive rate', according to the Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (SHAREDA).

"The cabotage policy will give the shipping industry and consumers alike, an alternative to bringing in more goods at a competitive rate.

"We use the word ‘competitive rate' because the costs for logistics does not only depend on shipping alone.

"It depends on transport, forwarding, the number of ships that comes here and so on" said SHAREDA President Chew Sang Hai.

When asked whether the abolishment of the cabotage policy would result in a decrease in the price of goods, Chew simply reiterated that the price would be ‘competitive'.

"More people will be coming in and more people will export. Definitely, the market forces will have to see some adjustments in the future.

"Surely, in my view, there will have to be some adjustments heading towards the downward trend" added Chew.

Commenting on the recent cabotage repeal, which had only started on Thursday, Chew said that he was in agreement and happy with it.

"As a consumer in Sabah, we have been appealing to the government for it to consider this policy and to modify and amend this policy.

"We know that the cabotage policy is a national policy. However, we are very pleased to know that the Federal Government, especially under the leadership of our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who had always been willing to listen to us.

"He had been listening to our appeal, which enables us to modify and amend the policy to suit the needs of the Sabahans. This is very good" Chew said.