ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia (MAPA)

A very good morning.

First & foremost on behalf of ASEAN Ports Association, Malaysia, allow me to record our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the secretariat & all of the member of ASEAN Ports Association for giving our country Malaysia the honour to host the 37th ASEAN Ports Association Main Committee Meeting. ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia is pleased to host this meeting in Kuantan the state capital of Pahang, Malaysia.

Dato’-Dato’, Ladies & Gentlemen,

I would like also to express my sincere appreciation & thanks to our Guest of Honour, The Honourable YB Dato’ Abdul Rahim Bakri, Deputy Minister of Transport for his agreement to deliver a keynote address and to officiate the opening of the 37th ASEAN Ports Association Main Committee Meeting.

I wish to extend also our deepest appreciation and thanks to Dato’-Dato’ and distinguished guest for being presence here. Indeed your presence here show & reflect of your strong and continuous support to the development of Kuantan Port. I hope your cooperation & contribution will continue towards a prosperous development of Kuantan Port in the future.

Dato’-Dato’, Ladies & Gentlemen,

On behalf of ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia, it gives me a great pleasure to wish a warm welcome to all the delegates of the 37th ASEAN Ports Association Main Meeting. The delegates are from the ASEAN Nation, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and not to forget our own country Malaysia.

We are glad that you all have landed here in Kuantan & hope that you will have a pleasant stay. Our team is ready to assist you in your need and interest. We hope that we will meet your expectation. While you are here, please take the opportunity to explore the city of Kuantan. Kuantan is the largest city in the East Coast of Malaysia with approximately 607,700 population. It is situated near the mouth of Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. No wonder Kuantan’s main sight seeing attraction is the beautiful scenic beaches. Our team have planned for the delegates to have the excitement and enjoyment of one of the beaches by having lunch at the famous beach of Teluk Chempedak on the 24th of November.

If delegates like shopping, East Coast Mall, a shopping mall of 1 million sq feet of build-up area is located just in front of this hotel.

Distinguished delegates, I would suggest you to refer to your programme of activities book which have being provided to you during the registration. It is important to do so as to make sure that you all will not miss the excitement and benefit of the programme. I hope that the delegates will have a memorable time ini the next three days and I would like to wish all a fruithful gathering and networking.
Last but far from least, I wish to take this opportunity to thank all for participating in this opening ceremony of the 37th ASEAN Ports Association Meeting. Once again right from the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank our guest of honour YB Dato’ Abdul Rahim Bakri, Deputy Minister of Transport for his commitment to officiate the opening of this meeting.
Thank You.

SPEECH BY THE HONOURABLE
DATUK HAJI ABDUL RAHIM BIN BAKRI
DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, MALAYSIA
AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE
37TH ASEAN PORT ASSOCIATION MAIN COMMITTEE MEETING
22 NOVEMBER 2011 (TUESDAY)

A very good morning

First and foremost, I would like to thank the organizing committee, Kuantan Port Authority for inviting me to address a few words and to officiate the opening of the 37th ASEAN PORT ASSOCIATION MAIN COMMITTEE MEETING. I would like to take this opportunity to extend a very warm welcome or selamat datang to Malaysia.

The formation of the ASEAN PORT ASSOCIATION or APA goes a long way back to 1974 when it was just a six member association but now it has grown to nine. APA was conceived to provide a venue for port officials in the region to get together not only to share experiences but also to harmonizing broad based issues and finding solutions to problem areas so as to facilitate trade and practices among member countries.

APA has indeed come of age where the discourse is not only among member countries but as a grouping has held dialogues, cooperation and courses/seminar with other countries far and wide from the European Union as well as China and Japan.

The way businesses are conducted these days has evolved and changed with the advent not only of globalization but also the introduction of new technology. Indeed one has to keep up with these changes if not one will be left out in the fast changing world without borders. To stay competitive, trading nations have to look seriously at trade facilitation and how to make the whole process of trading simpler and smoother. In short this means how goods flow faster with minimal interruptions.

Ports being the gateways for the bulk of the world’s trade traffic are key players in trade facilitation. The rapid changes in the marketplace put pressure on ports to respond and indeed ports have to adapt to face these challenges. The role of port is not just confine to providing facilities and services but must match it with efficiency and productivity as well as IT driven. A well developed port infrastructure is thus a vital part of an efficient trading system and network.

The introduction of much larger vessels such as the super cape size and mega container ships has change the landscape of port development and management. To keep in tandem with these changes, the port has need to continuously to train their personnel. These are indeed challenging times which APA has to face.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The Government of Malaysia views the port as an important component of the country’s economic development and much effort has been devoted towards the development of the port industry. This effort can be seen in the growth of the two main ports of the country namely Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas which is now ranked among the top 20 container ports in the world.
However I would like to stress that the Government of Malaysia is not marginalising other ports. Indeed under the various sectoral economic development of Malaysia,

several projects has been identified in the East Coast region of Malaysia to transform and elevate the region to a higher income based economy. In this regards, Kuantan Port which is situated in the East Coast region will play a pivotal role to serve this region and plans are afoot to enhance the capability of Kuantan Port.

From a humble beginning in 1979, where Kuantan Port was managed and operated by the government through the Kuantan Port Authority, it has now been privatised to Kuantan Port Consortium Sdn Bhd on 1st January 1998. I am happy to note that there is close cooperation between the privates sector namely the port operator and the regulator i.e. Kuantan Port Authority to foster public-private partnership as envisage under the privatisation programme.
This type of partnership is not unique to Malaysia and I am sure that it is working equally well in other ASEAN countries. It is important that both the government and the private sector in ASEAN work in unison in keeping open the channels of cooperation in ports and it is through such meetings and other related forums that we learn from one another through the exchange of experiences and ideas as well as programmes carried out under the auspices of APA.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Looking at the agenda of the meeting there are serious matters to discuss but I hope that the delegates will take time off to explore Kuantan and its beautiful surroundings and to take home fond memories of Kuantan and also that of Malaysia.
I sincerely hope that this meeting will enhanced and foster better relationship between the members of ASEAN port countries. I wish you a productive and fruitful deliberation and successful outcome.

It gives me great pleasure to officially declare the 37th APA Main Committee Meeting open.
Thank You. Terima kasih.

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Middle Eastern investors may invest some RM1.5 billion in a petroleum tank farm and halal industrial park in Penang Port.

Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) chairman Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya yesterday said potential investors have approached PPSB to set up shop in the port area to tap the export potential of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle.

“We are looking at reclaiming some 400 hectares of land to accommodate the proposed tank farm and halal hub.

“We also have plans to house a free commercial zone and free industrial zone within the port area to facilitate the easier movement of goods for investors,” Dr Hilmi told reporters after a Penang Port Commission port consultative committee meeting chaired by PPC chairman Tan Cheng Liang.

The closed-door meeting, which was attended by officials from the finance and transport ministries and the Economic Planning Unit, was also attended by Penang port users.

The proposed area for land reclamation would be south of the Butterworth Port on mainland Penang.

“Since we have received positive indication of the port’s RM350 million request from the federal government to carry out capital dredging works under the 10th Malaysia Plan, we are hoping that the sand from the dredging activities can be used for our land reclamation purposes,” he said.

The north channel dredging of the port, from its current 11.5m depth to 14.5m, was supposed to be carried out between 2010 and 2012 to serve main line operators calling at the port.

However, the government deferred the project in its mid-term review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Dr Hilmi noted the tank farm is likely to bring in a RM1 billion investment, while the proposed halal hub will rake in an estimated RM500 million.

“We are looking at potential investors to help us finance this project,” he added, “since we do not want to borrow any funds.

“We have had interest shown by parties from China and the Middle East so far to help us in the funding,” he added.

Several investors – such as those engaged in liquid crystal display production – have stated that they want to be located in an area where shipping of the goods can be seamless.

“Our next step would be to call in all interested parties to map out a detailed plan, before we proceed with obtaining permission from the federal authorities via the finance and transport ministries.”

Dr Hilmi, a former finance ministry parliamentary secretary, gave an assurance that the proposed Penang Port expansion plan would in no way end up like the scandal-hit Port Klang Free Zone project in Selangor.

By: Marina Emmanuel

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