KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 (Bernama) -- Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) Corp may lose a second major account to the neighbouring Malaysian port at Tanjung Pelepas, according to newspaper reports.
 
While Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) officials contacted by Bernama today declined comment, the reports say Asia's largest mainline operator Evergreen Lines of Taiwan, has already given termination notice to PSA and will make PTP its transshipment hub beginning next month.
 
A port official who asked not to be identified said they had no comment for the time being.
 
"We're looking into the matter," when asked to comment on reports about the impending shift by Evergreen from Singapore to PTP.
 
There has been market talk in the past one month that a second major account at PSA will be shifting to PTP following the first, the Danish-based Maersk Sealand in December last year, carrying with it 12 percent or 1.8 million twenty-foot eqivalent unit (TEUs) of Singapore's total annual container throughput.
 
The latest move involving Evergreen will deliver another 1.2 million TEUs to PTP which is now expanding its facilities, including requesting local and overseas suppliers to make an express delivery of the latest type of quayside cranes with orders worth around US$100 million (RM280 million).
 
Losing a second major account at a time when Singapore has officially declared itself in a recession has come as a big blow to the island republic which has for many years remained among the top two in the world's container port league.
 
Although it is not seen in any imminent danger of losing that position, what it means is that it will trail farther behind Hongkong, which last year pipped Singapore by gaining back its top position.
 
Evergreen Lines is no stranger to Malaysia, however. Through its subsidiary Uniglory, it was the first regional mainline to call to Pasir Gudang Port and is now a leader in container shipping in the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia.
 
It recently made a maiden call at the Bintulu International Container Terminal (BICT) in Sarawak.
 
Like many other mainlines, it has obviously been attracted by the comparatively lower cost of Malaysia's new ports and their matching efficiency with the use of new technology and the latest generation of quayside working equipment.
 
Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his 2002 Budget had talked about the strategic locations of Johor and the proximity to Singapore and that ports must seize the opportunities to provide world-class services.
 
Newspaper reports quoted PTP chief executive officer Mohamad Sidik Sheikh Osman as saying that the southern region had the potentials of becoming a hub for sea and air cargo distribution.
 
"This is possible because goods like automobile spare parts can arrive by sea and be distributed by air."
 
He had also said that Johor had good infrastructure and expertise and the time was right to find new markets despite the slowdown.
 
-- BERNAMA