Westports (Port Klang) on course to hit local boxes target
Westports at Port Klang is confident of achieving 1.3 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of local boxes this year, in line with the country's robust import and export trade.
Westports handled 266,693 TEUs of indigenous cargo for the first quarter of this year compared with 264,463 TEUs during the corresponding period last year.
The handling of local boxes has grown impressively from 550,000 TEUs in 2001 to 1.069 million TEUs last year. This represents an 18 per cent cumulative growth during the last five years.
Transhipment activities from January to March this year reached 644,449 TEUs, giving Westports a first quarter total of 976,832 TEUs, a 14 per cent growth compared with 860,419 achieved in 2006.
The port is on schedule to achieve its target of 4.2 million TEUs for this year. Last year, Westports' total volume was 3.7 million TEUs.
Current market share for Westports at Port Klang is 62 per cent.
"As a global port, Westports' buoyant performance last year and the 14 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2007 mirrors the continuing expansion of trade and growth in the world's economies," Westports executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam said in a statement.
"During the past three months, Westports also achieved a revenue of RM193.4 million, an increase of 11 per cent compared to the previous quarter's revenue.
"What is pleasing about this quantitative achievement is that Westports is recognised as a world-class port, averaging 35 moves per hour (mph) for crane.
Our productivity has superceded the region's crane workers and outdid the average industry standard of 25 mph," he added.
He said the port is also confident of achieving its 2007 target of 4.2 million TEUs if restows were included into the overall tabulation of containers, thus enabling the port to achieve a growth of 17 per cent.
Even without restows, Westports should yet again notch a double-digit growth of 15 per cent, said Gnanalingam.
On the port's future, Gnanalingam hopes to see further growth from both local and transhipment boxes.
Local boxes are expected to grow in 2007 by 15 per cent, that is, two-and-a-half times the country's gross domestic product (GDP) of 6 per cent, while transhipment growth is expected to grow by 10 per cent as more and more cargo from Indonesia and South Asia make direct calls or use Westports to tranship.
Westports today has 25 main line operators and 27 feeder operators which links it to 300 ports around the world. In terms of connectivity, the port has among others, 16 calls per week to China, 16 to Europe, 12 to the Middle East, 10 to Taiwan, 8 to Japan and South Korea and 11 to Sri Lanka.
Its feeder services connect Jakarta, Belawan and Surabaya in Indonesia with a total of 14 calls per week, 12 to India, 10 to Bangladesh and Myanmar and nine to Thailand and Vietnam.
Westports handled 266,693 TEUs of indigenous cargo for the first quarter of this year compared with 264,463 TEUs during the corresponding period last year.
The handling of local boxes has grown impressively from 550,000 TEUs in 2001 to 1.069 million TEUs last year. This represents an 18 per cent cumulative growth during the last five years.
Transhipment activities from January to March this year reached 644,449 TEUs, giving Westports a first quarter total of 976,832 TEUs, a 14 per cent growth compared with 860,419 achieved in 2006.
The port is on schedule to achieve its target of 4.2 million TEUs for this year. Last year, Westports' total volume was 3.7 million TEUs.
Current market share for Westports at Port Klang is 62 per cent.
"As a global port, Westports' buoyant performance last year and the 14 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2007 mirrors the continuing expansion of trade and growth in the world's economies," Westports executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam said in a statement.
"During the past three months, Westports also achieved a revenue of RM193.4 million, an increase of 11 per cent compared to the previous quarter's revenue.
"What is pleasing about this quantitative achievement is that Westports is recognised as a world-class port, averaging 35 moves per hour (mph) for crane.
Our productivity has superceded the region's crane workers and outdid the average industry standard of 25 mph," he added.
He said the port is also confident of achieving its 2007 target of 4.2 million TEUs if restows were included into the overall tabulation of containers, thus enabling the port to achieve a growth of 17 per cent.
Even without restows, Westports should yet again notch a double-digit growth of 15 per cent, said Gnanalingam.
On the port's future, Gnanalingam hopes to see further growth from both local and transhipment boxes.
Local boxes are expected to grow in 2007 by 15 per cent, that is, two-and-a-half times the country's gross domestic product (GDP) of 6 per cent, while transhipment growth is expected to grow by 10 per cent as more and more cargo from Indonesia and South Asia make direct calls or use Westports to tranship.
Westports today has 25 main line operators and 27 feeder operators which links it to 300 ports around the world. In terms of connectivity, the port has among others, 16 calls per week to China, 16 to Europe, 12 to the Middle East, 10 to Taiwan, 8 to Japan and South Korea and 11 to Sri Lanka.
Its feeder services connect Jakarta, Belawan and Surabaya in Indonesia with a total of 14 calls per week, 12 to India, 10 to Bangladesh and Myanmar and nine to Thailand and Vietnam.
