The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Gelang Patah, Johor, set a new world record for berth productivity of 340 gross moves an hour during loading and unloading operations for the Maersk Sealand vessel, AP Moller.
 
The port, which is competing closely with the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) and other ports in the region, broke the record of 336 gross moves set in 2001.
 
PTP’s previously recorded productivity of 302 moves an hour was set in Fenruary, an improvement of 12.6 per cent.
 
The port said it used eight super post-Panamax cranes on the AP Moller after it arrived from Algeciras, Spain, allowing operations to be wrapped up in 13 hours.
 
Maersk Singapore’s Henrik Jogensen described the performance as a “fantastic achievement”, PTP said in a statement.
 
PTP managed to woo two of the world’s biggest shipping lines – Denmark’s Maersk Sealand and Taiwan’s Evergreen Corp – from Singapore to the Malaysian port in 2001.
 
The world’s largest container line had earlier praised PTP’s strengthening productivity, which has been partially attributed to its ability to focus equipment on two major customers.
 
PTP currently operates six berths along a 2.16km quay and handled 3.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) last year, up 31 per cent on 2002.
 
It continues to enjoy strong volume growth this year, nothching up a 27 per cent increase in the first quarter.
 
The port has embarked on an ambitious expansion of dredging and reclamation works for second phase, which will boost its annual handling capacity to about six million TEUs  by middle of the year.
 
The expansion will eventually add eight new deep-water berths along an additional 720m quay.
 
PTP’s throughput jumped 27 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the previous corresponding period.
 
The port handled 957,500 TEUs in the first quarter of 2004 against 749,231 TEUs in the same period last year.
 
PTP ended its financial year 2003 in the black although the port had only been operating for four years