PTP volumes soar record 27 in Q1
Business Times Singapore
(SINGAPORE) Johor's Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) said its first quarter volumes grew 27 per cent over 2003 - a new throughput record for the young port. PTP handled 957,500 TEUs between January and end-March, compared to 749,231 TEUs last year during the first quarter of 2003, and said 7.7 per cent more vessels called the port - a total of 791.
The port attributed the growth 'to an increase in the number of services at PTP and free zone and local cargo growth'. PTP chief executive Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman described his port's growth as 'robust' despite 'increasingly competitive market conditions'.
Singapore's PSA Corporation is PTP's biggest competitor, and both terminal operators rely primarily on transhipment volumes. PTP handled 3.5 million TEUs last year - up 31 per cent on 2002 - while PSA handled a record 18.1 million containers last year, up 7.8 per cent from 2002.
PTP said it also set a berth productivity record in February, completing 302 moves per hour while operating on Skagen Maersk. Malaysia has been aggressively marketing its Johor free zone to lure logistics companies and manufacturers to its expanding industrial parks, and port and airport.
A statement noted that within the free zone, cocoa products manufacturer JB Cocoa's factory was launched in Q1, and that car maker BMW's Asian spare parts distribution centre was on track for completion by June.