Tanjung Pelepas plans for growth as volume surges
Containerisation International
Throughput at Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) rose 270% to 560,000 TEU for the third quarter of 2001, and management believes that increases to capacity and productivity will attract more business.
Handling volume from January to September 2001 was 1.48m TEU, while throughput in the second quarter of the year was 541,000 TEU. Productivity at PTP rose to 28 moves per hour in the third quarter.
CEO Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman attributes the throughput growth at PTP, which officially launched services on March 13 2000, to increasing local support and strong user confidence.
‘For a new port, local volumes certainly take time to build. Support services, namely haulage and forwarding services, have increased at PTP in the past few months,’ he said.
Mohd Sidik added that construction of two new warehouses would be completed soon. Malaysian Industrial Estates has sub-leased land in the distribution park to build a 10,000 sq metre facility, which is set for completion by the end of the year.
A further container freight station is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
‘PTP is currently discussing with a few potential users on possibilities,’ said the CEO.
Five quay cranes due for delivery in the first quarter of 2002 with 15 RTGs will further increase capacity, and a new vessel traffic system has been implemented to ensure a smooth flow in the channel.
Tiong Nam Trading & Transport began operations in its 12,000 sq metre warehouse at PTP’s distribution park in July, joining Pelapas Logistics and Kenwood Logistics.