PTP Volume Grows By 37 Pct In First Half Of 2003
Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 (Bernama) -- The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), South East Asia's fastest growing trans-shipment port, handled 1.6 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit of containers) from January to June 2003, up 37 percent from 1.17 million TEUs registered in the same period of 2002.
In a statement released here on Tuesday, the company said the growth was the result of the relocation of Evergreen Marine Corp to PTP, and the growth of the port's existing customers in terms of volume, vessel service calls and local cargo.
"We are pleased with the growth levels which were positive despite challenges facing the world economy.
PTP will continue its focus on building up its land base through additional logistics customers and also the Phase Two terminal expansion," said its chief executive officer, Datuk Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman.
Phase Two of PTP involves dredging and reclamation for an additional eight berths and the initial construction of an additional two berths of 360m each in length.
This will add approximately 1.5 million TEUs of capacity to PTP's current capacity of 4.5-5 million TEUs per annum.
The development of Phase Two, which started in August 2002, is scheduled to be completed by early 2004, the statement said.
Currently, PTP offers six berths of 360m each totalling 2.16km in length backed by one of the largest container yards in the region with a storage capacity of 110,000 TEUs.
Operational equipment includes 24 Super Post Panamax quay cranes, 10 of which have a 22-box outreach and are the largest in the region.