After having put in more than 30 years of service with the port industry, Sabah Ports Authority to be exact, and later Sabah Ports Sdn Bhd, i cannot help but be emotional and be attached to whatever that is about the port. I first set foot at the port in the year 1966. That was the time as a thirteen year old kid, i was to set my future and be working with the port for a big chunk of my life.

Together with several (six of us i think) young boys and girls of similar age, were to board MV Kimanis to begin our journey to Singapore, and from thereon on board trains to our various destinations in Peninsula Malaysia where we are suppose to be educated. For me and the late Ibrahim Hj Ahmad, our destination was Kuala Kangsar to the esteemed Malay College.

I didnt realise then, that the very wharf i was standing on, was to be the site for my first stint of operational duties supervising activities as a Cadet Assistant Traffic Superintendents (CATS) at the wharf, some 8 tears later in 1973.

Joining the port (SPA) on the first day of October in 1973, as CATS at Kota Kinabalu, saw us through a week of rigourous training, theory and practical, on port operational duties under the strict Mr Francis Lee, who was then a Traffic Superintendent (TS) i.e. some 2 notches above what we were at that time.

Day and night, and sometimes on 24 hour work shifts when there were 'bunching' of ships, did not deter me and some other officers to put aside our yearnings for qualifications which would take us to greater heights in the future. We enrolled for the Chartered Institute of Transport (United Kingdom) professional course. The course was divided into 2 parts, The intermediate level and the Final Part. Having started working in October 1973, i toiled to pass the Intermediate part 1, in the next year. By 1975 i cleared the intermediate part 2. Then come the Final Part which comprises of 2 parts i.e. Final Part 1 and 2. By 1977 i had completed the course. This took me to Sandakan on transfer in 1978, as a fresh full pledge Assistant Traffic Superintent (ATS).

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