The annual throughput comes in below PTP's revised November estimate of 2.8 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), but ahead of its earlier forecast of 2.5 million TEUs.

In late November, Bernama reported PTP chief executive officer Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman as saying that he was confident of surpassing the 2002 target of 2.5 million TEUs with a 40 per cent growth over the year, for a total of 2.8 million TEUs.

At the time, Mr Sidik also said PTP was eyeing a further 40 per cent growth in 2003. The upstart container port has its work cut out for it however, as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had earlier last year revealed his goal for PTP to emerge as the country's largest port by 2005, handling more than 10 million TEUs annually.

Last year's box count represents a 30 per cent increase over 2001's 2.05 million TEUs with the vast bulk of PTP's volumes comprising transhipment boxes and the remaining 5 per cent local export and import volumes.
PTP said in a statement that last year's growth was a result of 'port efforts in securing new markets for cargo despite the volatile economic conditions'.

It also cited the shift of Evergreen Marine Corp in late August last year as contributing 'significantly' to PTP's growth levels.

Evergreen's departure from PSA Corporation - following in the heels of Maersk Sealand nearly two years earlier - boosted PTP's annual throughput by an estimated 900,000 TEUs.

To accommodate future growth, PTP has begun land reclamation under its Phase 2 development to create an additional eight berths, two of which are expected to be completed by 2004, giving PTP an annual capacity of 6 million TEUs.

Meanwhile, Port Klang's Westport posted a 27 per cent rise in throughput for 2002, reaching an annual throughput of 2 million TEUs. Westport was also hit by the shift of Maersk and Evergreen to PTP, losing an estimated 300,000 TEUs of annual transhipment volumes.

Westport's executive chairman G Gnanalingam noted that Port Klang's main focus in the future would be to fulfill its role as the country's national cargo gateway and to achieve a 50/50 mix of local versus transhipment cargo, according to a Star online report.

Commenting on PSA Corporation's use of financial incentives to attract empty boxes, Mr Gnanalingam said PSA was aware that the efficiency it had achieved at a high cost was now available within the region at a lower cost.

'They have therefore needed to review their role for the rest of South-east Asia including Malaysia. Price cutting will always be a temporary phenomenon,' he said.