PSA Corp dumbstruck after Evergreen body blow
CI Online
Evergreen Lines is expected to move its transhipment hub from Singapore to the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Johor, Malaysia next month, high-level local sources told ci-online.
The Taiwan line is reported to have sent a termination letter to PSA Corporation early this month, informing Singapore of its decision.The move will see PTP gaining a guaranteed annual volume of 1.2m TEU and further changing the face of the transhipment business in South-East Asia.The low cost and high efficiency of PTP is said to be the main cause of Evergreen's move.For Singapore, it will be the second blow after the world's largest container line Maersk Sealand made PTP its transhipment hub in Dec 2001 adding 2m TEU to PTP's volume. PTP chief executive officer Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman declined to confirm or deny the planned move. But he did say: ‘We completed the first stage of attracting major shipping lines last year and this will be enhanced in the second stage.’A PSA Corp. spokesperson said that the company was unable to comment on the port’s second high-profile defection in as many years. A statement read: ‘PSA is bound by contractual obligations not to comment on its business operations and dealings with its customers.’Evergreen was unavailable for comment.