ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia (MAPA)

SINGAPORE: Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), Malaysia’s largest container terminal, is confident of double-digit growth next year despite a challenging economic environment.

“We are expanding under a three-year modernisation plan, which will be completed around May next year,” said chief executive officer Glen Hilton.

PTP is investing RM1.4 billion over three years in a modernisation plan designed to meet the docking requirements of mega-container vessels.

Hilton noted that PTP’s overall capacity, with the first 12 berths, amounted to 8.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

“Last year, we did 7.7 million TEUs. The market fluctuates up and down but we know we can grow. We have the capacity. With the new berths next year, we expect to record double-digit growth. The future is bright,” he said after welcoming the world’s largest container vessel, the Tripple-E “Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller”, on Sunday.

“Although we are in tough economic times, we will continue to work well with our customers like Maersk Line to attain continued growth.”

The newly built vessel called at PTP, which serves as Maersk Line’s Southeast Asia Transhipment Hub, on its maiden voyage between Far East Asia and Europe.

Being in the transshipment market, Hilton said the majority of the business was from other countries.

“We are in a great position, given PTP’s location in the heart of Asean, which is a growth market.

“We see some impact (of the economic downturn) from countries like Japan and South Korea, but the growth is there,” he explained.

In terms of the local market, Hilton said: “We are seeing a little bit of growth here. We are expecting the market to grow primarily on the back of great global shipping access. This is one of the benefits for the people in Johor and for companies that are importing and exporting goods into Malaysia.

“This is because they have access to bigger ships and the biggest network in the world, right at their front door,” he said, adding that it was also good for the local economy.

When asked on competition, Hilton said: “We have been in the transhipment market and face competition from Singapore.

“We also have competition with Port Klang and another port, which is literally beside us,” he said.

However, he said competition is good.

Saying that each port has its own challenges, including PTP, Hilton said: “We are committed to being the most efficient port in the region and that is our goal and we are very focused on it.”

On new shipping lines, he said: “We always have shipping lines typically for the local market calling at PTP.” Bernama

The terminal operator achieved a speed of 665 moves per hour in the first hour of operations and moved 4,427 TEUs within 10 hours

TERMINAL operator Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd said its operations team has set two new world records for productivity on November 17, despite heavy rain and wet conditions.

The first record was achieved with a speed of 665 moves per hour in the first hour of operations, breaking the previous record of 456 moves in June 2006.

In a statement issued last week, Westports said it was able to do this by using nine twin-lift cranes in the first hour of operations. These cranes are able to lift two containers simultaneously.

The second record entailed vessel productivity by moving 4,427 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) within 10 hours.

The operations were on French-based CMA CGM’s vessel called ORFEO that can carry a total of 9,700 TEUs and operates the French Asia Line 4 (FAL 4) service, the latest service in the FAL network linking Asia and Europe.

Seventeen quay crane operators who worked on two shifts, as the vessel arrived at 0400 hours and departed at 1330 hours, were the “centre-forwards” of the record high scoring team.

The 17 are now listed among the best quay crane operators in the world.

They are Badrul Hisham Tajuddin, Mazidin Hanif, Ramis Krishnasamy, Syed Hidir Syed Mohd Ali, Mohd Soni Soron, Khamaly Jasmin, Saravanan Kuppusamy, Mohd Romzi Hasan, Muniandy Perumal, Chandra Mohan Maninayagam, Bond Ganson, Ibrahim Samsudin, Mohd Shariff Bajuri, Hamidi Toha, Jamaly Synie, Khairul Nizam Awang and Sargunan Selvam.

With the latest achievements, Westports now stands among the top five ports in the world in terms of productivity.

“At Westports, investing in people is a highly regarded talent management framework that helps the port to improve performance and employee productivity through the effective management and development of people.

“Our operations staff are constantly required to acquire skills to be responsive to constant changes and constant quickening of the pace,” said Westports executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam.

He said the most important movement in the chain of ship to shore productivity lies in the speed of the quay cranes. The process of hoisting containers on and off the vessels is a skill, which has been honed into a craft.

Westports’ latest acquisition of new super post-Panamax quay cranes is part of on-going efforts to have the latest state-of-the-art resources to meet customers’ needs now and into the future, he added.

“Additionally, the port’s move to introduce several measures to maintain employees’ morale and productivity following the fuel price increase in June such as improved staff incentive scheme, higher allowances as well as salary increment and introduction of G-Mart store for cash-less shopping seems to be paying-off, judging by these two world records. It is undoubtedly our employees’ response to the company’s goodwill towards them,” Ruben said.

By : btimes.com.my