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Despite
the slow down in the growth of trade
in the second half of last year, the
total container throughput handled
by ports for the whole of last year
rose by an impressive 48 per cent,
driven largely by the increased
volume of transshipped containers.
The
increase in transshipment of
containers between local and
regional boosted the total volume of
containers handled at local ports to
7.5 million TEUs, compared with 5.25
million TEUs handled in 2000.
While
the growth at Port Klang was
sustained by a higher volume of
empty and transshipment containers
handled at Westport, Johor Port and
Penang Port, the other two mature
container ports suffered reverses
attributed largely to the fact that
the traffic at the two ports
mirrored the health of the national
economy.
The
prize for star-performing port went
to Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas which
posted an unprecedented 500 per cent
to handle 2.01 million TEUs, only a
shade below the volume of containers
handled by Westport at Port Klang
that came in second place after
Northport, also in Port Klang that
took the pole position.
Port
Klang’s premier container handling
facility Northport that emerged as
largest port last year following the
merger between Klang Container
Terminal Bhd and Klang Port
Management Sdn Bhd, retained its
leading position with 2.3 million
TEUs last year.
The
terminal captured almost one third
of the Malaysian port container
traffic last year, while Westport
operated by Kelang Multi Terminal
Sdn Bhd, recording the second
highest growth rate of 42 per cent
handled 1.46 million TEUs as against
1.02 million TEUs in the previous
year.
The
combined traffic of Port Klang
(Northport and Westport) made up
52.3 per cent market share of
Federal ports.
Traffic
at Penang Port and Johor Port
slipped marginally during the period
under review.
Container
traffic at Johor Port slipped by 3
per cent to 638,718 TEUs in 2001
from 659,181 teus in 2000 but
maintained its position ahead of
Penang.
Container
traffic at Penang Port, the
principal gateway for Northern
region was down by five per cent to
604,294 TEUs last year.
Penang,
which ranked fifth after Northport,
Westport, Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas
and Pasir Gudang Port expects a
better performance this year
especially cater from the
Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand growth
area.
The
ports in Sarawak and Sabah recorded
a double-digit growth in the volume
of container traffic handled last
year reflecting the pace of
transformation of the economies of
the two states.
Total
volume handled by the nine ports in
the two states grew by 10.4 per cent
to 217,788 TEUs in 2001 compared
with 197,264 TEUs in 2000.
Bintulu
Port, a Federal port, posted almost
40 per cent growth to 68,000 TEUs in
2001, showing much potential in its
aspirations to dominate the regional
trade.
Container
traffic at Sabah Ports rose by three
per cent to 154,000 teus in 2001
from 149,000 in 2000.
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