Tg Pelepas expects volumes to grow 5%
Shipping Times Singapore Online
(SINGAPORE) Bucking the current trend of declining container volumes, the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) is anticipating 5 per cent growth in volumes next year, according to its chief executive.
Speaking at the signing ceremony for a RM102.3 million (S$49.1 million) contract for five additional quayside cranes for the neighbouring Johor port, PTP chief executive officer Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman said the port has recently surpassed the 2.1 million TEU (20-ft container) mark for the year.
'We have always said we will touch two million TEUs. We expect the trend to continue and we think the growth will be 4-5 per cent,' he said, according to an AFX-Asia report.
In the first phase of the port's development, some RM2.4 billion was invested and PTP hopes to invest an equivalent amount in the second phase set to begin soon.
Noting that the port has been 'aggressively marketing' itself, Mr Sidik said more shipping lines are expected to call at the port.
The young port made headlines last year when the the world's largest shipping line - and the largest customer of Singapore's PSA Corporation - announced it would both take an equity stake in and move its transhipment hub from Singapore to PTP.
Since that time, speculation has been rife that another major liner company would also shift from PSA to PTP.
That talk was given credence recently when Shipping Times learned from well-placed sources that Taipei-based Evergreen Marine has signed a memorandum of understanding with PTP, under which it is to make the switch by August next year.
Evergreen and its subsidiary Uniglory carry nearly 1.2 million TEUs (20-foot containers) through Singapore each year.