Tanjung Pelepas Port chief executive, Mohamad Sidik Shaik Osman said in an interview with Channel NewsAsia that both countries should recognise the areas for cooperation.

 

Speaking on the sideline of a terminal operation conference in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Mohamad Sidik said Port of Tanjung Pelepas is open to discussions with Singapore on possible areas of cooperation.

 

He said both countries can work together to develop attractive packages for shippers.

 

Mr Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman, CEO, PTP, said: "It's possible the physical activity of port is handled at PTP but the supporting activities of the legal, financing and so on remains in Singapore - this is where both of us combined, it's a strength."

 

Mr Mohamad Sidik said that while Singapore can take advantage of southern Malaysia's lower cost and large landbank, Malaysia has a lot to gain from Singapore's technical and legal expertise.

 

But analysts noted the constraints on such cooperation.

 

Charles de Trenck, Vice President Global Shipping Research,Salomon Smith Barney, said: "The constraints for cooperation between PSA and Pelepas are far greater than between East-West Shenzhen and Hong Kong port."

 

Essentially, at the back of the analysts' minds are the political hurdles that they feel have to be cleared for cooperation between PSA Corporation and Tanjung Pelepas Port to materialise.

 

That contrasts with the case of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, which are basically one country now.