Malaysia’s Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), which is competing with Singapore for South-east Asia’s sea freight, said it handled 20 per cent more containers in the first nine months of this year, as global trade expanded.

PTP said it handled a record 3.03 million 20-foot standard containers in the January to September period, according to a press statement.

The number of vessels calling at the port increased 49 per cent to 2,378 during the period.

Half-owned by Malaysia’s MMC Corp, PTP has been luring business away from PSA International, operator of the world’s second-busiest container port in Singapore.

PSA last week said it handled 24.8 million 20-foot containers in the first nine months of this year, 19 per cent more than a year ago.

It handled 15.3 million containers during the same period, a 15 per cent increase from a year earlier.

Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine and Maersk Sealand, a unit of Denmark’s AP Moeller Maersk, are among the shipping lines that have switched to using PTP as their South-east Asia stopover, attracted by the harbour’s cheaper port charges.

PTP shares are not publicly traded.

The shares of MMC fell 0.5 per cent to RM1.98 yesterday morning in Kuala Lumpur.

PSA’s shares are not publicly traded.

PTP opened two new berths in the third quarter, helping to increase the port’s annual capacity to six million 20-foot containers.

The number of containers handled by it that were bound for another destination, or the so-called transshipment traffic, increased 20 per cent to 2.9 million 20-foot units in the first nine months.

Local cargo volume gained 16 per cent to 122,654 20-foot containers.

Malaysian ports are expected to handle 11.5 million 20-foot containers this year, 13 per cent more than a year ago amid rising trade, Malaysian Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy said last week in Kuala Lumpur