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Driven by a strong increase in the
volume of transshipment containers handled, the
total container trade at Malaysian ports last
year posted an impressive 12 per cent increase
over the volume the ports handled the previous
year.
Total volume of containers handled by local
ports increased to 13.6 million TEUs, up from
12.0 million TEUs handled in 2005 with a third
of the volume accounted for by volumes at the
Port of Tanjung Pelepas that is the largest
container port in the country.
With more than half the total volume of
containers handled by ports in the country now
composed of transshipment traffic, the trend
towards transshipment driving the growth of
major ports is expected to further intensify
and, indeed it seems, inevitable.
This trend is especially expected to accentuate
in view of the lower prospects for growth of
national trade that as reflected in the
container volumes generated on account of the
national trade handled by major ports.
Thus, while PTP and Westport recorded surging
growth on account of the strong growth in
transshipment traffic, national gateway ports
like Northport, Penang and Johor have to contend
with single-digit growths.
In fact the growth in transshipment at Westport,
at Port Klang was somewhat unprecedented – in
excess of 30 per cent – it what appears to be
against the trend that prevailed at Northport,
the other port terminal at Port Klang that
counts its strength on handling national trade.
The surge in transshipment at Westport – that
includes the handing of re-stow, re-positioning
and empty containers – has steeply increased the
port’s dependence on transshipment for its
survival, making up 70 per cent of the total
volume of containers handled by the port.
Westport, which handled 2.9 million TEUs in
2005, of which 1.9 million TEUs made the
transshipment volume, last year recorded a total
volume of 3.7 million TEUs, with 2.3 million
TEUs making up the transshipment volume.
Unlike Westport, Northport, which is the largest
national gateway port, retained its strong cargo
base from volumes generated by national trade,
while also making inroads into transshipment.
Total volume of containers handled by Northport
rose marginally less than 1 per cent to 2.7
million TEUs.
Despite the higher volume of containers handled
by Westport, it received fewer ship calls that
did Northport consistent with the
characteristics of a transshipment port that
generally does more “ship exchange” of
containers (that includes re-stowing and
re-positioning of empty containers by ships
calling at the port).
The average number of containers per ship at
Westport was thus about 640 TEUs compared with
436 recorded by Northport, based on ship calls
totaling 5,600 ship calls and 5,900 ships calls
by Northport and Westport, respectively.
As an international hub port, the dependence on
transshipment by PTP, which handled a hefty
total 4.7 million TEUs last year, is even higher
at more than 95 per cent but overall growth has
slowed down.
With the maturing of the cargo base at PTP,
growth has somewhat lowered than the levels
achieved in its early years as it raced to
establish itself among the top 18 container
ports in the world in a record time of less than
4 years since its commenced operations.
Growths at Penang and Johor, which handle
largely national trade, remained satisfactory
with container volumes totaling 843,000 TEUs and
873,000 TEUs respectively last year.
Outside the port system in Peninsular Malaysia,
Bintulu Port in Sarawak made a impressive
comeback with a commendable growth of 27 per
cent handling a total of 188, 395 TEUs.
The coming on stream of resource-based projects
at its immediate hinterland helped to push the
container volumes at the leading port in East
Malaysia that suffered reverses the previous
year on account of competition from neighbouring
ports. |
