“We are committed to making Malaysia’s maritime industry an international one and will stop at nothing to ensure the necessary actions are taken towards this end,” he said.

 

At present, Malaysian ports handle a combined 7.3m TEU compared with the 17m TEU annual throughput generated by neighbouring Singapore. “We have achieved tremendous success in a short space of time and are within a brief distance of equaling Singapore’s achievement,; he claimed, adding that the port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), “has grown as a viable alternative to Singapore”.

 

Last year, Tanjung Pelepas, currently Malaysia’s only pure transshipment hub, posted a throughput of 2.05m TEU, which, according to Chief Executive Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman, exceeded the budgeted target, which had been 2m TEU. However, compared with the 418,218 TEU throughput registered in 2000, traffic increased fivefold.

 

With reference to the current year, Osman said that it is difficult to forecast, especially given current volatile market conditions. He went on to point out that while Maersk Sealand (MSL) is currently PTP’s largest user, other major shipping lines were being aggressively pursued and the future growth was heavily dependent on persuading new customers to sign up.

 

Speculation was rife towards the end of last year that the latest big hitter to switch from Singapore to PTP would be Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corporation, as well as its Uniglory subsidiary. A memorandum of understanding to that effect was signed in October and followed in January of this year by an announcement by group chairman Chang Yung-Fa, who told journalists, “We have formally decided on the shift”/

 

Nevertheless, the port of Singapore Authority (PSA) appears to be prepared to keep negotiating with Evergreen up to the expire of its present contract in August. The Taiwanese line accounts for 5% of Singapore’s current throughput, although commentators believe that PSA is unwilling to budge on prices even if it means losing this, since it does not wish to retain what it sees as low margin business. PTP, on the other hand, is going all out to win market share.

 

The difference in price between the two ports is truly phenomenal. “Charges for Tanjung Pelepas are more than 50% lower than those in Singapore,” said Yung-Fa. “Our company has annually handled about 1.2m TEU of container cargoes in Singapore, so the difference between the two ports amounts to as much as US$5.72m. (ŧ6.66m)”.

 

Should Evergreen sign a definitive contract with PTP, the Malaysian port will be ready in equipment terms to handle an enhanced throughput, which could reach 3.2m TEU by 2004. The container terminal already has 14 operational super post-panamax quayside gantry cranes, which were supplied by IMPSA< a Malaysian-Argentinean joint venture company.

 

All have a 53m outreach, effectively allowing them to service 18 rows of stowed container. Recently, the terminal placed an order for an additional 10 units, five fo which will be supplied by Noel Crane Systems and the rest from MMC-ZPMC, an interesting joint venture between Malaysia’s MMC Engineering & Construction and Shanghai’s Zhenhua Port Machinery Company (ZPMC).

 

All 10 will be equipped with twin spreaders and will enable operators to service 22 rows on docked vessels. “In choosing the technical specifications. We had to take the ports’ long term vision into account. Designed as a transshipment hub. PTP has to be able to accommodate the largest container vessels afloat and this will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. Transshipment hubs wishing to compete in this market of ever-expanding vessel size will have to expand in line with future market trends,” insisted Osman.

 

Despite the massive increase in traffic at the terminal. PTP was able to achieve a consistent 28-29 gross average moves per crane hour over the latter part of last year. However, the never ending demand by the shipping lines for ever higher levels of productivity was one of the main reasons why the new generation of cranes will be equipped with twin-spreaders, which Osman insists will help boost future productivity even further.

 

He pointed out that when the first surge in traffic commenced in late 2000, the initial response at PTP was to increase the labour force, which has doubled over the last six months to approximately 900 employees.

 

“Subsequent increases in capacity were also vital when we brought forward delivery of both the super post-panamax quayside gantries and additional yard cranes. By January last year, with the bulk of MSL services already shifted to TPP, the focus moved towards integrating the IT network system to ensure a seamless transfer of data between port operating systems, shipping lines and other port users.”

 

These upgrades resulted in a notable hike in productivity from 20 moves in the subsequent March/April period, before climbing to the current level of 28-29 moves. On mother vessels, the terminal actually achieves and average of over 30 moves per crane hour.

 

“The result of all of this is that we can now legitimately use our productivity, efficiency and fast turnaround times to sell ourselves to potential customers,” Osman emphasised.

 

However, it is often the performance of the yard which determines the success or not of a high volume transshipment business. At PTP, up to 110,000 TEU can be held in the stacking area at any one time, with storage and retrieval undertaken by a fleet of RTGs. Which were chosen in preference to other forms of stacking equipment because of their ability to handle a higher stacking density.

 

Control of the large number of boxes transiting the yard is undertaken using the Navis IT package, which optimizes the available use of space. Osman pointed out that its graphics interface ensures greater control given that planners can work simultaneously and in real time to produce vessel and yard plans quickly and accurately, with minimal human intervention. Furthermore, Navis is able to simulate the current and future state of yard planning.

 

For the future, PTP intends to introduce a wireless local area network system, as well as an automated yard slot sensor to minimize human error on container slot confirmation. This will make use of a computer’s ability and built in parameters to assess the advantages and disadvantages of every possible slot in the terminal for gate entry and vessel discharged boxes. PTP is also working on making a net reduction in the average time to retrieve any container from the yard, involving faster truck delivery times and faster feed of containers to the crane when loading a vessel.

 

Quizzed as to future equipment acquisitions, Osman pointed out that for the planned phase one development of PTP, 24 quayside gantry cranes, 72 yard cranes and a full complement of tractor heads and chassis had been slated. Current equipment stands at 14 quay cranes, 42 RTGs – with an additional 15 on order and 105 tractor heads and trailers. As mentioned previously, 10 further gantry cranes are on order, after which tenders will be issued for a further 15 RTGs.

 

With regard to the transport of boxes beyond the port, Osman noted: “PTP is a relatively new port and with our global to be one of southeast Asia’s leading hubs, International connections are essential. We see our attraction to liners not only in terms of excellent facilities, location and efficiency, but also to the hinterland on our doorstep. PTP’s 5.4 km access road is linked to the Malaysia-Singapore second link expressway and from there to the North-South highway. The optimum highway connection ensures good local cargo build-up.”

 

He added that a rail link is now in the advanced stage of construction from PTP to the national network, which runs from Singapore to the northern part of Southern Thailand. Due to commence operations in next month, the link will be used to bring in cargo from key industrial areas in Southern Thailand.

 

Finally, where does Osman see competition for PTP coming from” “Although economic projections are currently volatile and difficult, we still see various possibilities for ports in the region to cooperate and not to compete. All main ports in southeast Asia have their respective strengths and an eventual economic recovery and growth will certainly benefit all existing players.”