PTP Remains Country's No 1 Port

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Johor retained its status as the country's number one port handling 5.6 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU) in throughput last year.

In a statement today, its chief executive officer Captain Ismail Hashim said despite the global economic slowdown, PTP still managed to grow its "local" throughput volume by approximately 43 percent, up by 94,000 TEUs from 218,000 TEUs recorded in 2007.

He attributed the growth in the port's local cargo throughput mainly to increased shipping services available at PTP for import and export as a result of new shipping lines calling at the port.

Ismail said these included the new services between PTP and Australia, New Zealand and Philippines introduced by MISC Bhd, when they moved their hub from Singapore to PTP last year.

Besides the new services at PTP brought about by the MISC hub shift, 2008 also saw a new service being introduced at PTP linking Europe and the Far East through German shipping line Hapag Llyod.

"The various forms of shipping line arrangements such as joint services and slot exchange arrangements between the different shipping lines calling at PTP has made it possible for local cargo owners to move more cargo through PTP in 2008," he noted.

He said the reliable services provided by PTP over the years has also increased the confidence level of existing customers such as Maersk and Evergreen to introduce more service calls at PTP.

"Evergreen last year introduced a new Vietnam Service linking Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and PTP whilst Maersk introduced a new service linking Asia and the US through their vessel sharing agreement with French shipping line CMA CGM," he said.