Malaysian ports register positive growth

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian ports are reporting an increase in cargo movement compared with previous years.
 
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said Malaysian ports handled 4,785,818 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) from January to March this year, an increase of 12.7% from 4,246,395 TEUs during the same period last year.
 
All the ports also recorded positive returns on TEUs handled in the first quarter, he said yesterday.
 
“As a whole, all ports experienced positive growth between 2% and 18%, with the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) recording the highest,” Kong said in a statement read by his deputy Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri.
 
Transshipment – cargo passing through Malaysian ports – also grew by 513,795 TEUs or 19% while imports increased by 32,221 TEUs or 4%.
 
Kong said British-based container trade publisher Containerisation International reported that Port Klang and PTP in Johor retained their positions among the world’s top 20 ports last year.
 
“Port Klang and PTP have successfully retained their positions at number 13 and 17 respectively from 2009,” he said.
 
Kong also said that safety must be inculcated as a core value both on and off the job, in order to prevent injuries and fatalities at the workplace and on the road.
 
“Make safety a corporate performance indicator, empower employees to stop unsafe work on the spot and reward them suitably.
 
“Encourage them to develop their own safety plan to include their loved ones,” he said in his speech at the ExxonMobil Contractors and Employees Safety Award ceremony here yesterday.
 
Nine contractor companies received Gold Awards for clocking over 100,000 work hours without any injuries.