ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia (MAPA)

The CMA-CGM Group expects to grow its container volume in Port Klang between 12 per cent and 13 per cent again this year, if everything goes reasonably well.

“It’s very difficult to predict. We don’t want to be too optimistic and tempt fate, because there is still a lot of uncertainties in the European and US economy but we think with the good recovery last year we can continue,” CMA-CGM & ANL Malaysia managing director Simon Whitelaw told reporters during an appreciation lunch to mark CMA-CGM’s for breaching 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in Port Klang.

CMA-CGM registered between 12 and 13 per cent growth in container volume in Port Klang in 2010, due to good growth in transshipment as well as local cargo.

Last year the company contributed about 26 per cent to Port Klang’s overall throughput volume.

Local cargo makes up about 10 – 12 per cent of the cargo CMA-CGM handles while the remainder is from transfer of containers and transshipment.

Whitelaw said however that the fourth quarter of 2010 saw some softening in cargo movement, as China’s consumer demand eased off.

“The fourth quarter was definitely softening a little bit partly because business tailed off, and China was not the big consumer demand everyone was expecting. Fourth quarter was a little bit softer from the third quarter,” Whitelaw said.

CMA-CGM started out in Port Klang in 1998, handling some 20,000 TEUs.

Meanwhile Port Klang Authority chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng said he is confident that the port would be able to at least maintain its world ranking of the previous year. Port Klang was ranked 13th in the world’s busiest container port in 2009.

“We improved by 21 per cent last year, we still don’t know the world ranking for 2010 but we expect to at least maintain it. I don’t think many ports in the world have seen such a large jump,” Lee said.

Port Klang, which comprises Westports and Northport, recorded a 21 per cent rise in container volume in 2010, to 8.9 million TEUs.

Port Klang, comprising Northport and Westports, has retained its title as the country’s busiest container port in the first half of this year, with a 48.3 per cent share of the total number of containers handled by all Malaysian ports.

Its rival, Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Johor, was listed second busiest, handling 35.4 per cent of the country’s total container throughput.

Port Klang moved 4.31 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of cargo in the January-June 2010 period, up 29.3 per cent from 3.33 million TEUs a year earlier, as the global economic recovery boosted cargo traffic, said Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager Kee Lian Yong.

It handled 856,110 TEUs of exports, up 25.8 per cent from a year earlier, and the volume of imports rose 18.2 per cent to 828,082 TEUs. Transshipment volume rose 34.5 per cent to 2.62 million TEUs.

Kee said Westports led the way in the first half of 2010 with a 30 per cent increase in container volume from the same period in 2009, handling 2.65 million TEUs, while Northport saw a 28 per cent increase to 1.66 million TEUs last year.

“We are on track to achieve our stretch target of 8.4 million TEUs for the whole year, where Westports is projected to handle 5.2 million TEUs and Northport 3.2 million TEUs. The fourth quarter is traditionally the busiest quarter of the year,” Kee told Business Times in an interview.

Port Klang moved 7.31 million TEUs last year, a decline of 8.3 per cent compared with 7.97 million TEUs recorded in 2008.

“The projection for 2011 is a growth of 10 to 12 per cent in container volume (from 2010),” said Kee.

Meanwhile, in terms of tonnage handled, traffic through Port Klang in the first five months (January-May) of this year increased by 36.8 per cent to 65.54 million tonnes from 47.90 million tonnes a year earlier.

“PKA and the two terminal operators (Northport and Westports) took this time of slow-paced economy and downturn to reshape our strategies. These strategies have hastened and increased our growth even more so with the global economic recovery as can be seen by our growth percentage for the first half of 2010,” said Kee.

He added that the port authority is aware that emerging ports in Asia such as Vietnam and Sri Lanka pose stiff competition to Port Klang.

“In order for us to be competitive, we are constantly looking at our operations to ensure (we offer) effective and efficient service, are service oriented, and have cost-effective operations and a commercial competitive environment,” he said.

By: Kang Siew Li

BUTTERWORTH: (NBCT) last month handled 92,439 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), which is the highest volume achieved in a single month in its 35-year history, said Penang Port Sdn Bhd general manager Obaid Mansor.

“The average volume of cargo handled in a month is between 77,000 and 87,000 TEUs.

“In August last year, NBCT handled 85,505 TEUs and in August 2007, it was 78,624 TEUs,” Obaid told StarBiz, adding that it handled 87,879 TEUs in July.

He said NBCT was now optimistic the total volume of cargo handled this year would not decline by 5.5% as forecast in July.

“Cargo-handling activities in the fourth quarter should remain stable and NBCT should handle as much cargo this year as it did in 2008, which was 929,000 TEUs.

“We expect a lot of cargo such as furniture products and consumer electrical goods such as televisions, washing machines and refrigerators to arrive at NBCT in the fourth quarter, as wholesalers in the north would be stocking up to prepare for the festive season,” he said.

Obaid said the increased cargo-handling activities in August was due to a number of factors.

These include the greater volume of rubber-based cargo from southern Thailand exported via NBCT to other parts of Asia, the higher imports of steel scrap by steel mills in the north, and a bigger volume of empty containers coming from the Middle East and India.

“Empty containers comprised about 25% of the volume handled. They generate revenue as NBCT levies handling charges on their owners,” he said.

Export of rubber-based cargo and import of steel scrap were key indicators that the economy in the region was picking up, Obaid said.

“It shows that the effects of the stimulus packages are already kicking in. The import of steel scrap is an indicator that development projects in the north are resuming.”

Obaid said NBCT expected to handle over 80,000 TEUs of cargo this month.

He said the slight drop was expected as the bulk of restocking activities had taken place in August.

“The new seven post-Panamax gantry cranes worth RM175mil, coming in October, will increase the volume of cargo handled annually to over one million TEUs,” he said.

The cranes would be put into action in the second quarter next year, he added.

By : David Tan