KUALA LUMPUR – The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) has spare parts worth RM384.49 million stored in warehouses, most of which are obsolete, according to the latest Auditor-General’s Report.
The report, which listed flaws in the navy’s management of its inventory, noted that the spare parts are housed in the Western Fleet Supply Depot (DBAB) and the Eastern Fleet Supply Depot (DBAT).
DBAB has 1.62 million units of unused spare parts worth RM381.69 million, while DBAT has around 6,040 types of unused spare parts worth RM2.80 million.
Unused spare parts such as a missile handling beam valued at RM0.69 million and a routine kit W6 for MTU engine 12 V 538 valued at RM0.92 million have remained untouched since they were received over a decade ago.
The report said specifically, the beam arrived in August 2009, and the routine kit was received in December 2011.
It said during a site inspection in February 2023, the audit noted that the monitor panel of the automated warehouse and retrieval system (AWRS) had been damaged since October 2021.
“As a result, it became impossible to retrieve spare parts stored in elevated locations,” the report noted.
The Defence Ministry responded to the Auditor-General’s (A-G) query regarding the significant wastage of spare parts.
“The ministry explained that spare parts become unusable primarily due to instances where onboard equipment has been replaced with different brands, the ship has undergone repowering to upgrade older components with more powerful modern ones, or the ship has been decommissioned.”
The ministry further explained that the W6 routine kit remains unused because the patrol craft underwent repowering and received a different engine.
As for the missile handling beam equipment, it will soon be relocated to the Western Ammunition and Explosive Depot.
The ministry said in the audit report that new initiatives and processes have been introduced to ensure that this situation does not happen again in the future.
The audit also said the RMN did not achieve its goal of acquiring the 18 ships it aimed for between the 11th and 12th Malaysian Plans (up to December 31, 2022) under the Navy’s #15to5 Transformation Programme.
The programme aimed to acquire six Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), ten Littoral Mission Ships (LMS), and two Multi-Role Support Ships (MRSS). However, the Navy has only received four LMS ships so far.
The audit also revealed that the Navy’s management of ship maintenance is inadequate.
Due to high operational demands and delays in acquiring new ships, the maintenance process has been significantly hindered. The A-G cautioned that inadequate maintenance could potentially endanger the safety of the ship’s crew during operations. – July 4, 2024