ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia (MAPA)

WESTPORTS Malaysia Sdn Bhd, operator of the country’s busiest port, expects to see growth in its business for next year despite the gloomy global economy.

Its chief executive Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said despite the global economic crisis and news of the European economy in recession, consumption worldwide is increasing.

He said Westports’ cargo volume is growing due to rising demand in India and other African and West Asian countries.

“Although the economic outlook is not so good for most of the world, consumption is increasing and cargoes need to be moved from the countries manufacturing them to countries that consume them. So there is a lot of growth,” Ruben Emir said.

Westports’ core business is container operations and its major clients are CMA CGM group, China Shipping and United Arab Shipping Corp.

He said Westports is confident of handling seven million TEUs of container cargo this year.

“I think we have hit six million TEUs and so, with one million TEUS more before year-end, I think we should be almost touching it,” Ruben Emir said.
Last year, Westports handled 6.4 million TEUs.

However, he said Westports hopes to achieve eight to 10 million TEUs once its additional 300m berths and 600m berths are completed by 2014. Bernama

NCB Holdings Bhd’s direct subsidiary, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, is expected to register an increased cargo volume of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent this year.

Northport Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Basheer Hassan said the company sees an increase in both the container and cargo business segments amid an improving economy.

“Northport registered a total volume of 2.858 million TEUs in 2009, a decrease of five per cent compared to 3.006 million previously,” Basheer told reporters after NCB Holdings” annual general meeting (AGM), in Petaling Jaya today.

He said the container mix at Northport stood at 50 per cent for both import and export containers.

Transshipment containers made up 38.6 per cent of the total volumed handled by Northport.

Under the conventional cargo business, Northport handled a combined volume of 6.53 million freight weight tonnes (FWT) last year.

Meanwhile, NCB Holdings Group”s chairman, Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said Northport continued to be the leading gateway for indigenous trade, handling 58.6 per cent of the country”s import and export volume passing through Port Klang.

He said the total volume of containers under all classes handled through Port Klang during 2009 was 7,309,779 TEUs, reflecting a decline of 8.3 per cent compared with 7,973,579 TEUs recorded in 2008.

On the planned construction of Wharf 8A, Ahmad Sarji said the group remained ready to re-activate the plan.

It would be to meet its customers’ demand for enhanced capacity to service their growth in business.

“Given the current growth, we are quite optimistic that we need to expand the capacity. This was held back in 2009 in the last quarter because of economic downturn.”

With the indication of growth now, it would be sustainable to invest, said Basheer.

He said Northport will call for tender in one or two weeks for building of the wharf.

The size of the wharf will be 300 meters in length and 17 meters in depth.

This will allow ships to berth at any one time there, he added. — Bernama

The North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) registered some 13% increase in the volume of cargo it handled in October.

NBCT handled 94,570 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in October, compared with 83,103 TEUs in September.

Penang Port Sdn Bhd general manager Obaid Mansor told StarBiz that the higher cargo volume was driven by goods from southern Thailand, rise in local businesses’ imports and exports, and an increase in the volume of empty containers from India and the Middle-East.

“We are confident of achieving our target of 930,000 TEUs by the year-end, matching the volume of cargo handled in 2008,” he said.

On the expansion of NBCT, he said the work to extend the 900m berth to 1,500m would be completed a year earlier.

“The original schedule for completion was October 2011. We have finished adding 400m to the berth,” he said.

He also said NBCT had already received four of the seven post-Panamax gantry cranes that it had ordered. “The other three cranes will arrive in the first week of December. Each crane costs RM25mil,” he said.

By: The Star Online

Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), the country’s premier transhipment terminal, is working towards increasing hinterland cargo volume to achieve a more sustainable business model, says chief executive officer Captain Ismail Hashim.

On average, PTP now handled 95% transhipment and 5% hinterland cargo, he said.

“We feel that we have to strike a better balance to achieve a more sustainable business model,” he told StarBiz via e-mail.

Development in Iskandar Malaysia, which included logistics, would in turn support hinterland cargo growth, he said.

An aerial view of Port of Tanjung Pelepas.The port now has 12 berths and a terminal handling capacity of 10 million TEUs per year.

“In this respect, PTP, along with its sister companies Johor Port and Senai Airport, will play complementing roles to further strengthen the logistics sector in Johor.

“The presence of strong logistics infrastructure in Iskandar Malaysia and Johor will attract investors, manufacturers and industries that are looking for strong and efficient logistics backbone,” Ismail said.

This would result in an increase in Johor’s hinterland volume, he added.

PTP’s 1,000-acre free-zone land has also been successful in attracting brands, contributing to the hinterland volume of PTP.

“Companies which are already rooted in Pelepas Free Zone include Ciba Vision, Flextronics, BMW, JST as well as logistics players such as Maersk Logistics, Nagai Nitto, Schenker Logistics and Century Logistics.

“We are continuously marketing the free-zone land to attract more players,” Ismail said.

The port’s aims to quadruple its volume in the next 20 years augurs well for hinterland cargo.

Ismail said in line with the expected increase in volume and its long-term goal, PTP would have to expand its port infrastructure.

“Some of the factors that shipping lines look for when deciding on a port of call is the accessibility to the port, operational efficiency and capability to handle current and future volumes (scalability).

“In the case of PTP, we belief we will be able to achieve this due to the value propositions that we have to offer,” he said.

PTP currently has 12 berths and a terminal-handling capacity of 10 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) per annum.

Ismail said it had the space and potential to build up to 95 berths with a terminal-handling capacity of more than 100 million TEUs.

PTP handled about 5.6 million TEUs last year.

On the current business environment, Ismail said it had been very challenging for all port operators globally due to the economic downturn.

“However, PTP has shown outstanding performance in weathering this stormy condition, especially in the second half of the year,” he said.

He noted that PTP registered a 3.4% increase in volume as at September compared with the same period last year.

“Despite the downturn, we expect to see some growth this year via the new services introduced through our existing and new customers such as CMA CGM,” he said.

By: Sharidan M. Ali

Malaysian ports handled 10 per cent more containers in the second quarter of the year compared to the first, reflecting a recovery in both domestic and transhipment cargo.

Container traffic at the 10 major ports rose to 3.79 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) from 3.44 million in the periods reviewed.

Transhipment traffic, comprising almost two-thirds of the total, was up 11 per cent to 2.48 million TEUs from 2.22 million. Transhipment cargo is that which arrives in the country and is transferred to another ship before continuing to its final destination.

Export containers showed a 10.2 per cent increase to 670,718 TEUs, while import traffic rose 4.4 per cent to 640,469 TEUs.

In the January-June period, however, container throughput fell 7.7 per cent to 7.24 million TEUs from the first half of last year. Cargo tonnage was down 11.6 per cent to 168,806 tonnes.

The Transport Ministry’s special maritime adviser, Datuk Captain Abdul Rahim Abd. Aziz, said the drop in first half container volume was in line with the performance of other ports in the Asean region, which saw 15-30 per cent declines.

“For instance, ports in the Philippines reported a decline in cargo volume of an average 20.6 per cent in the first half, while Vietnam’s port container throughput was down between 14 per cent and 30 per cent and Thailand, an average drop of 35 per cent,” he told Business Times in an interview.

“While container traffic seemed to have stabilised in the second quarter, port operators in Asean remain uncertain whether the market has hit bottom.

“At the recent Asean Ports Association (APA) working committee meeting in Kota Kinabalu, the most optimistic prediction of a recovery was from the middle of 2010,” said Abdul Rahim, who is also the APA working committee chairman.

To survive the current economic downturn, port operators have resorted to various cost-cutting strategies, including sending fewer employees overseas for trips or meetings and deferring purchases of new equipment, he added.

Port Klang, comprising Northport and Westports, solidified its position as the largest container port in the country.

Its container throughput rose 7.8 per cent in the second quarter compared to the first three months. It moved 1.73 million TEUs against 1.6 million before.

Transhipment volume was 996,508 TEUs, up 4.6 per cent from the first three months, and 57.7 per cent of Port Klang’s total throughput.

The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Johor continued to be the second largest container port, handling 1.47 million TEUs in the second quarter.

It recorded 17.6 per cent growth from 1.25 million TEUs in the first quarter, with 94.4 per cent of all volume coming from transhipment.

Bintulu Port saw 16 per cent growth to 57,895 TEUs from 49,875 in the first quarter.

Johor Port handled 216,744 TEUs in the second quarter, up 7.3 per cent from 201,915 in the first, thanks to the increase in transhipment and export cargo.

Penang Port was the only port to record a decline in the quarters reviewed, down 24.2 per cent to 151,165 TEUs from 199,391.

By : Kang Siew Li

Port Klang handled 7.97 million TEUs last year, ie, 48.5 per cent of the total number of containers carried by all Malaysian ports

PORT Klang, the home of Westports and Northport terminals, remained the leading port in the country last year, holding a 48.5 per cent share of the total number of containers carried by all Malaysian ports.

It handled 7.97 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) last year, against the 16.4 million TEUs handled by all Malaysian ports last year.

Westports led the way with a 15.2 per cent increase in container volume from 2007, handling some 4.96 million TEUs, while Northport saw a 7.1 per cent increase to three million TEUs last year.

Conventional cargo movement for last year saw a 0.2 per cent increase to 22.2 million tonnes for Port Klang.

In terms of numbers carried by individual terminals, however, Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Johor remained the top port, handling 5.6 million TEUs last year.

PTP was followed by Westports and then Northport.

Of all Malaysian port terminals, only one, Kuantan Port, registered a contraction in container volume last year.

Kuantan Port recorded a 0.4 per cent decline in container volume, from 127,600 TEUs in 2007 to 127,061 TEUs last year.

All ports in Sabah and Sarawak recorded positive growth in container volume, with Miri registering the biggest jump, growing by 30 per cent to reach 28,094 TEUs from 21,618 TEUs in 2007.

Bintulu Port managed to record robust growth last year, increasing to 286,013 TEUs from 251,800 TEUs in 2007.

For 2009, the local port industry is expected to experience a drop in cargo volume handled as import and export activities fall, amid slowing demand for goods.

Last week, Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager Lim Thean Shiang had said that this year’s contraction would see Port Klang’s container throughput fall to levels experienced in 2007 to 7.118 million TEUs.

By : btimes.com.my

… due to bleak outlook

PORT KLANG: Port Klang, the national maritime gateway, projects a 10% fall in cargo volume due to the bleak outlook for the economy this year.

Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager Lim Thean Shiang said both port operators, Northport and Westports, started to feel the contraction in volume last month with a 16% drop in cargo volume against the same month in 2008.

“In an effort to cultivate and sustain the port business this year, especially import and export activities, PKA has decided on a blanket waiver for those who have difficulties in adhering to the three-day container free storage period at the port,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Port Klang previously had a five-day free storage period but this was cut to three days effective Jan 1.

Lim said the continuation of the waiver would be reviewed in July based on the economic climate then.

Lim Thean Shiang

Lim Thean Shiang

“But, the Port Klang community must continue to upgrade their efficiencies to operate under the three-day free storage period when the economy revives,” he said.

Additionally, PKA will also continue the feeder incentive scheme by April but with a new pre-qualification criteria.

The feeder incentive is given to feeder operators that help bring cargo to Port Klang from other places in the region.

The incentive was frozen in October for PKA to re-study its contribution to the cargo growth at Port Klang.

A total sum of RM37mil in incentive had been given to feeder operators since 10 years ago.

On Port Klang’s performance, Lim said it had recorded a 12% increase in cargo volume to 7.97 million 20-ft equivalent units (TEUs) last year from 7.11 million TEUs in 2007.

“This achievement has propelled Port Klang to be ranked the 15th-busiest port of the world in terms of volume last year from number 16 the previous year,” he said.

By SHARIDAN M.ALI