The container port said it handled more than two million TEUs, a record first-half number which it attributed to 'the continuing strong global economic upturn' and new services calling at the port.
 
'With cargo volumes rising on major trade routes, in particular Asia-Europe, PTP has experienced a strong growth in volumes,' the port said in a statement.
 
The number of vessels calling at the port rose 5.3 per cent to 1,504 during the period which PTP said equated to about three extra calls a week.
 
Transhipment volumes - the lion's share of PTPs cargo throughput - amounted to 1.83 million TEUs, up 24.6 per cent over the same period last year, while local cargo volumes grew by 22 per cent to 63,500 TEUs. The completion of two additional berths by mid-July will increase the port's capacity from 4.5 million TEUs to six million TEUs annually.
 
Taiwan's Evergreen Marine and Maersk Sealand, a unit of Denmark's A P Moller Maersk group, are the two key mainline operators using PTP after both switched their hubs from Singapore.