Tanjung Pelepas, the Malaysian port competing for transshipment containers with neighbour Singapore, broke the 4M TEU mark for the first time last year.
 
Throughput climbed to 4.02M TEU, a 15% leap over 2003, on the back of business from liner majors Maersk and Evergreen, prompting port authority chief executive Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman to describe 2004 as a "spectacular year.”
 
The quantity of local cargo handled rose 12% to 168,000 TEU. With the completion of two berths last year as part of the second phase of development, PTP now offers eight berths of 2.8km in length.
 
In anticipation of still greater volumes, PTP will add three new super post-Panamax cranes, 15 RTGs while container yard capacity will expand to 154,000 TEU.
 
Cargo volumes from the port’s free zone area rose 20% and PTP expects the Phase A distripark to be fully occupied in 2005.