KLANG (28 Jan 2020) – With many shipping container suppliers and manufacturers coming into the market, existing companies should take this as a positive and work together to promote sustainable modular products to the public, says James Yeoh, Director of Solid Horizon Sdn Bhd.

Following the enforcement of amended Act 446 by the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia (JTKSM) after the first Movement Control Order (MCO) in 2020, Malaysia saw a rising number of shipping container suppliers and Centralised Labour Quarter (CLQ) manufacturers enter the market.

“This is a good thing for the public and the industry,” says Yeoh. “I personally see them as complementing our small industry and bringing knowledge and information to the local market”

Solid Horizon is a Malaysian manufacturer and supplier of shipping containers with an expertise in providing industry standard portable cabins, heavy duty cabins, labour quarter cabins, toilet cabins, used containers and polyurethane cabins since 1994.

“Currently, Solid Horizon is in the business of not just supplying CLQs to companies, but to educate them on the need for proper, hygienic, industry standard accommodations for their workers. But we can’t do this alone. There needs to be a collective voice in the industry to empower this movement,” he says.

Yeoh adds, “We’ve been supplying labour quarters for years and the government has now categorised it as an essential service. When the amended Act 446 was enforced, we started getting more and more companies asking us for advice and we were more than happy to provide it. Whether they stayed on as a paying client was secondary, what mattered most was that these companies were educated and a prevalent change in industry practice for worker accommodations existed.”

Yeoh also says that this collective voice is not just limited to CLQs, but for modular homes as well.

“We are currently educating the public and creating awareness on innovative construction technology and we would like it if our industry complementors would do so as well. We have products that cost less than traditional brick and mortar, takes less time to build and are sustainable for the environment. For something so good, not just for the public, but for the industry and the environment, it should be promoted more and we hope similar companies as us can do the same,” he says.

When asked if there are many companies in Malaysia that supply and manufacturer shipping containers, Yeoh says that there are.

“They’ve been around for a long time. Since the time of my father. But all these other companies are quiet, private and moving forward independently. It’s time we created a collective voice, worked together and promoted our sustainable products to the market,” he says.

Yeoh concludes that he hopes both new and mature companies in the industry can come together and collectively work to promote sustainably innovative construction technology for the betterment of the country.

For companies seeking employee accommodations, modular homes that fit local and international industry standards, please visit Solid Horizon’s website here, email the company at solid@solidhorizon.com or call them at 03 3396 3888.