In an impromptu speech in Malay during his first visit to the container hub since assuming office in October, Badawi said he was impressed with the port's performance.

Throughput at PTP, which is competing for transhipment cargo with neighbouring Singapore, surged 30% to 3.5M TEU in 2003 just three years after beginning operations.

In that time it has lured away Maersk Sealand and Evergreen Marine, two of Singapore’s biggest customers. The port is located in Johor province, which has chalked out ambitious plans for attaining the status of an International Maritime Centre to rival Singapore.
 

PTP chief executive Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman has targeted “aggressive growth” with the expected completion of an additional 720m of wharf this year. Malaysian ports, thriving under the government’s privatisation policy, handled a record 10M TEU last year.