ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia (MAPA)

CMA CGM’s first dedicated On Dock Depot (ODD) in Asia officially opened recently at Westports in Port Klang.

The ODD facility, located at CT5, is aimed at providing good customer service to the French liner’s customers, especially in the local market which has grown tremendously this year.

Witnessing the milestone event were Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam, executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam and CMA CGM ANL Malaysia managing director Simon Whitelaw as well as representatives from the local CMA CGM office and Westports.

Speaking at the opening, Whitelaw said plans for the ODD facility were looked into for sometime as a means to support its growing domestic business.

He said the ODD would provide fast turnaround of empties, quick delivery and better quality boxes.

“The ODD facility would provide another strategic base for our customers at Westports to help meet the growing demand generated by ever increasing levels of trade. Besides providing cleaning and repairs of empties, we also provide free inspection,” he added.

He also pointed out that the ODD, which has access to the Free Zone and with a current capacity of 12,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), has the potential to become a regional hub.

CMA CGM, the world’s third largest shipping line, is Westports’ number one customer.

By: btimes.com.my

PORT operator Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd and its executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam each walked away with an award this year at the Brand Laureate Awards held in Kuala Lumpur on March 31.

Westports won the award for the Best Brand in Logistics – Ports while Gnanalingam won the award for Brand Personality.

Presented by the Asia-Pacific Brands Foundation, the Brand Personality is equivalent to the Grammy Award for Branding.

The award was presented by former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

In a statement issued last week, Gnanalingam attributed the two awards to his staff who “have continued to innovate and provided the best services to our customers”.

He said winning the awards was further proof of the port’s capabilities and a testament to its quality of work.

“Westports was founded around innovation and the pursuit of excellence, and those core values have continued to be at the heart of everything we do,” he added.

By: btimes.com.my

PETALING JAYA: A number of port operators in the country have reported higher throughput volume for March but are cautious about volume going forward as the signs of recovery are still weak.

According to them, imports and exports as measured by twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) were up for March while transhipments – the shipment of goods to an intermediate destination before moving to another destination – were also up.

Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam had noted earlier in a commentary that in March, Westports’ total volume, including imports, exports and transhipments, was up 10% compared with the previous three months.

He said the immediate question that came to mind was whether these were signs of recovery or if this was due to inventory corrections after managers cancelled their orders between October and December last year.

“As such, between April and June, we’ll begin to notice that the world will not only reinstate its inventory levels but also increase its orders simply because life must go on,” Gnanalingam said.

Captain Ismail Hashim, chief executive officer of Port of Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd, which operates the number one transhipment port in the country, said volume grew 23% to 469,000 TEUs for March compared with February.

He said it was tricky to accurately predict the underlying reasons behind the recent increase in volume. “Whether the increase is sustainable over the longer term remains to be seen,” Ismail told StarBiz in an e-mail reply.

He said if the recent upturn was due to restocking of manufacturers’ orders as a result of them halting production abruptly earlier on when the crisis first started then the spike in volume could be “just a temporary pattern.”

Penang Port Sdn Bhd general manager Obaid Mansor said the Butterworth container terminal saw a bottoming in January when throughput was 30% lower than October 2008.

“The upturn in business was really registered in the export transhipment trade provided by our industrial hinterland,” he said, adding that a combination of improved demand for manufactured products, re-stocking, trade credit availability and demand from China and India could be the factors that contributed to an improvement in volume.

By FINTAN NG

MALAYSIA’S major ports should be able to withstand the onslaught of the global economic crisis, at least for this year.

In fact, many are still projecting growth in volume although business may not be as robust as in previous years.

There are about seven major container ports in the country – Northport and Westports in Port Klang; Penang Port; Port of Tanjung Pelepas and Johor Port in Johor; Bintulu Port in Sarawak; and Sapangar Bay Container Port in Sabah.

The harsh impact of the global economic crisis has resulted in declining world trade. However, healthy intra-Asian trade and higher local public spending growth is expected to spur more imported goods and raw materials.

OSK Research, which has lowered the country’s gross domestic product forecast for this year to 1.1% from 2.7%, says the RM7bil economic stimulus plan by the Government should be able to support high public spending this year.

Most analysts say the ports’ stellar performance in past years has boosted their resilience to sail through the choppy waters.

Moreover, they are somewhat “protected” from the economic storm due to their location, particularly those along the Straits of Malacca, the main maritime trade route in Asia.

Ports in east Malaysia are also strategically placed in the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

It helps, too, that the ports have a mixed portfolio of handling transhipment as well as exports and imports. Most of the Malaysian ports managed to meet volume targets last year although by the fourth quarter, early signs of a trade decline were evident.

Northport (M) Bhd and Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the two terminal operators at the country’s maritime gateway Port Klang, are confident of maintaining volumes this year.

Northport posted slightly more than three million 20ft equivalent units (TEUs) last year, up 5% from 2007. It also expects to continue its RM585mil expansion plan which will be funded with internal funds.

On the other hand, Westports recorded around 16% volume growth in 2008 to slightly under five million TEUs. The positive forecast this year is supported by Westports’ biggest customer, CMA-CGM. Similarly, the global slowdown has not thrown a spanner in the works for Westports’ RM800mil expansion. The port’s container terminal five has been completed, adding a capacity of 1.2 million TEUs to a total of 7.2 million TEUs.

Its executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, in his New Year’s message to the staff of Westports, says the company will embark on plans to consolidate its business in terms of processes, staff skills and initiatives given the relatively quieter period.

“Our manpower strength is currently at 3,650, which is sufficient to see us through the expected volume.

“Our next batch of recruits would probably come in during the second quarter of next year,” he said.

The country’s main transhipment port, Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), expects to break even this year at 5.6 million TEUs.

“The current situation is unprecedented,” says chief executive officer Capt Ismail Hashim, adding that the best and worst-case scenario would see a 15% rise or 10% drop in cargo volume for the year.

Noteworthy is that PTP has experienced a 6% contraction in cargo volume in the final quarter of 2008 against the corresponding period a year earlier.

“But we are keeping our hopes up as our main-line operators, such as Maersk and Evergreen, are anticipating marginal growth this year,” he says. “The non-decline forecast is largely based on our exposure to the still healthy intra-Asian trade.”

Penang Port, according to its chief operating officer Mohd Niana Merican Abd Kadir Merican, expects a flat growth this year given the uncertainties going forward while Sapangar Bay Container Port (SBCP), managed by Sabah Port Sdn Bhd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suria Capital Holdings Bhd), is not expecting volumes to fall.

Sabah Port also manages seven other ports in Sabah. Suria Capital group managing director Datuk Abu Bakar Abas is optimistic of the outlook for this year due to the Government’s stimulus package to boost economic activity in the country.

By SHARIDAN M. ALI

PETALING JAYA: Three major ports in Malaysia are confident they will meet their volume targets this year but are bracing for slower growth next year due to the global economic downturn.

Ports that have been recording substantial growth over the years have not been spared the whiplash from the global economic crisis.

Datuk Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader

Northport (M) Bhd managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader told StarBiz the port would be able to achieve its volume target of slightly less than three million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) this year, up 4.9% from 2.86 million TEUs recorded last year.

“This is because we had done well in the first half of this year but the last quarter is a little bit slow,” he told reporters after delivering a talk the Selangor Freight Forwarders and Logistics Association in Port Klang recently.

Northport’s November volume stood at 261,251 TEUs, down 7.3% against the same month last year.

Going forward, Basheer said Northport would be very concerned about the country’s economy as it depended a lot on trade.

“If Malaysian trade is affected, of course it will have some impact on our business. But with low gearing of almost 0%, we are quite robust to withstand the onslaught,” he said, adding that Northport had survived the Asian financial crisis of 1997/98.

He added that Northport would continue to operate prudently and would look into postponing taking on less important costs, such as advertising, next year.

Echoing a similar oulook, Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd will not be expecting the usual double-digit volume growth next year that it had been enjoying previously.

But the port is still expecting to post a 16.3% volume growth to five million TEUs this year.

Ruben Emir Gnanalingam

For the month of November, Westports still recorded a growth of 5.4% to 390,000 TEUs against November last year.

Executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said the port industry would see some decline in volume next year.

“Looking at the current global economy and its prospects going forward into 2009, it will take a long time to recover, maybe until 2010,” he told StarBiz.

Malaysia’s leading transhipment terminal operator, Port of Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd (PTP), is also on track to meet its volume target of 5.8 million TEUs this year, an increase of 6.2% against last year, although it has felt a slight volume contraction in the last quarter of this year.

PTP recorded a decrease of 2.5% to 449,000 TEUs in November compared to the same month last year.

The port expects to achieve commendable growth next although it has acknowledged that it would not be as robust as in previous years.

Alan Tan

Transways Logistics (M) Sdn Bhd, a logistics provider in Port Klang, expects the volume of exports to decrease further after the first quarter of next year.

Its managing director Alan Tan told StarBiz that based on the current situation where furniture and food exporters were facing shrinking demand, the export volume at Port Klang was expected to fall between 20% and 30% next year, especially after the first quarter.

“But local logistics companies such as Transways are currently experiencing a surge in demand from multinationals as they open more tenders to other players which ignite competitive pricing rather than depending on one or two logistics providers.

“This is in tandem with the cost cutting measures of the multinationals in this gloomy economy.

“Warehouse business is also doing well to store commodities that are currently having price downtrend such as scrap metal,” he said.

By SHARIDAN M. ALI

PETALING JAYA: While Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd leads the industry in terms of productivity, its success does not solely rely on advanced equipment and facilities, but more importantly, its workforce.

“The port business is in a service-oriented industry where people are the most important asset,” its executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam told StarBiz.

“Every port can acquire the most advanced cranes, berths and system but what makes a terminal better than the rest is how it manages its people.”

In scouting for talents, Gnanalingam said Westports offered attractive remuneration packages and staff benefits.

“As there are not that many applicants with prior port experience, we basically train our employees from scratch.

Ruben Emir Gnanalingam

Ruben Emir Gnanalingam

“Experience is a not a necessary pre-requisite, what is more important is finding the suitable person for the right position,” he said.

Gnanalingam said Westports’ young executives programme would include training in various departments to evaluate and identify the areas that an employee could excel in.

“And if an employee feels jaded doing the same job for a long time, we will try to move him around,” he said.

Westports averagely recruits 12 young executives every six months as part of its succession plan.

Gnanalingam said via the recruitment plan, Westports ensured that when a person left or were promoted, the vacant position would be filled by another experienced employee.

Another interesting talent management practice at Westports is its focus on key competence indicators (KCIs).

“Alongside our key performance indicators (KPIs), we also have KCIs that measure and describe an employee’s competence and character.

“This will identify a person’s talent to be placed in the most suitable position,” he said.

Westports also values leadership potential at every level of its operations.

“Every employee is encouraged to develop and train newer and less experienced subordinates. For me, I am constantly developing 30 to 40 of my senior managers to be better,” he said.

Westports is one of the key sponsors alongside Sime Darby Bhd and StarBiz for the Asia Strategic Talent Management Forum 2008 on Nov 13.

The forum, which will be held at Sime Darby Convention Centre, is organised by Leaderonomics Sdn Bhd.

By SHARIDAN M. ALI

In June this year, the port community in Port Klang was surprised by the entry of little known Lim Thean Shiang as Port Klang Authority’s general manager.

Coming to a post that has traditionally been reserved for long-serving government employees, Lim was worried of only two things – the acceptance of PKA employees and the port community.

“They (PKA staff) were sceptical of me, because I was from the private sector and therefore had doubtful management skills,” Lim quipped.

He said direct and indirect feedback gathered has been very encouraging.

“I feel that they have taken to my management style. I believe in empowering the staff, have them chair meetings, make decisions… it’s a new culture for them.”

Lim was handpicked by Transport Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat to head Port Klang Authority after the March general elections. The official appointment, how-ever, came two months later on June 6.

He put the two months to good use by visiting both Northport (M) Bhd and Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd, as well as meet up with logistics players to get a better understanding of the industry.

The 37-year-old lawyer by training is not daunted by the mammoth task ahead of him though, as he points out that his task is to make sure that plans for Port Klang are on track.

“The plans for Port Klang still remain the same. The way I look at it… what is important is to put Port Klang back on the world map, to promote Port Klang and not the port operators.

“Both port operators must assist Port Klang in promoting us as Port Klang not as Northport or Westports,” Lim said

Besides continuing with the goal of making Port Klang the transshipment hub of the region, Lim plans to set out a 15-year strategic port development plan, which will map out the direction of both port operators in Port Klang and the kind of facilities and technology needed to develop both ports.

“I realise the efficiency of both ports are mainly reliant on the transportation infrastructure, especially the road infrastructure. So, we will put up the proposal to the Ministry of Transport, which will be most likely tabled in the 10th Malaysia Plan, to see how we can link up both ports,” Lim said.

He said the linkage would reduce internal transfer time as well as divert the movement of cargo trucks away from the public road system.

By : Presenna Nambiar

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