According to the award’s organizers, PTP won the award on the strength of its phenomenal growth in cargo volume, which it has managed to sustain despite the economic slowdown. The port’s ability to maintain high standards of service and productivity were further factors in its favour.

 

More that 500 guests from the international shipping and maritime community attended the awards ceremony, which was held in Hong Kong.

 

Readers of Lloyd’s List Maritime Asia were asked to vote for the top ten performers in ten maritime-related categories, including “Best Terminal”, “Best Main Line Operator”, “Best Intra-Asian Operator” and “Best Ship Finance Bank”, among others.

 

The top three companies or organizations with the highest number of votes in each category proceeded to the final round, where an international panel of judges decided on the eventual winner in each category.

 

PTP, which was officially opened in January 2000, was the first port in Malaysia to win the award when it bagged it last year in Singapore.

 

PTP’s Chief Executive Officer Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman said the award was an acknowledgement of the port’s efficiency and growing cargo volume.

 

“When PTP won the award last year, that was the first step.

 

“Since then, PTP has made significant improvements in productivity and efficiency. The award this time around is a mark of recognition for the efficiency and growing volume of business handled at PTP,” he said.

 

The port, which is only in its second year of operations, has handled 1.6 million TEUs from January to October this year.

 

Since PTP’s official launching by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad on March 13 last year, the port has grown from strength to strength.

 

In a dramatic move that was the talk of the South-East Asian maritime scene last year, Maersk Sealand relocated its base of operations to PTP, making its transshipment hub.