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When in September 1997 Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman was appointed to head the
little known greenfield port at Tanjung Pelepas, at the southwest tip of
Peninsular Malaysia, many would have thought he would not make it. Some even
wanted him to fail.
He was after all only an administrative officer from the Ministry of
Transport, new to the port industry and who would probably have difficulty
telling the portside and starboard of a ship.
 Fewer still even cared and gave him much a chance against the odds that were
stacked against him, and Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia’s most
ambitious billion-ringgit port venture built to take on Singapore, the
world’s number 2 container port, sitting just across a narrow strait.
Yet, when on 1 October 2005 when Datuk Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman leaves PTP,
this time to head an airport, he leaves behind an enviable record of
achievement that even worst of his detractors would not hesitate to
acknowledge and applaud.
PTP is now ranked in the world elite league of top 18 ports – no port in the
world has made it into the league in such a short span of time, less than
three years.
PTP not only holds the unrivalled record of being the fastest-growing port
in the world, but for the first time in more than a century succeeded in
putting Singapore on the defensive that no other port was able to in the
region.
Taking on Singapore on its own turf was a tall order for Sidik. But Sidik,
with his infectious trademark grin, stood taller when he pulled off a coup
by enticing the world’s number one line, Maersk-Sealand, away from Singapore
to PTP in August 2000.
Suddenly, the myth of Singapore’s might and its invincibility was shattered
as it stood stripped off its number one client that migrated to PTP with a
sizeable 10 per cent of Singapore’s container volume.
Singapore, which only gave a cursory glance over its shoulders to PTP as a
minor irritant at its backyard, suddenly realized it now had a formidable
foe at its courtyard.
The Republic Senior Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, spoke of the threat posed by PTP
and scolded PSA for missing trees for the woods.
Barely had Port of Singapore Corporation time to reconcile what went wrong
and why it lost Maersk-Sealand, when news was out that its number two client
(which was also world’s number three liner company) was about to ditch it
for PTP.
The imminent departure of Taiwanese-owned Evergreen was a bitter blow to
Singapore, especially in view of the close political and commercial
relationships between Singapore and Taiwan.
Not unexpectedly, there were last minute counter offers from Singapore –
prompting Sidik to rush to Taipeh to prevent Evergreen from changing its
mind.
Evergreen stood firm and moved in June 2002 to PTP which meant Singapore
would loose another 10 per cent of its container throughput.
In terms of volume of containers handled PTP has become runaway success –
last year it handled 4. 02 million TEUs, a hefty rise from the 418,000 TEUs
it handled in 2000.
The port received less than 700 ship calls in its first year and last year
it received 3,193 ship calls generated by Maersk and Evergreen largely as
well as two dozen other lines, including several feeder operators.
PTP has emerged as the largest container port in Malaysia and in the region,
second only to Singapore.
Sidik succeeded in putting PTP on the global port system.
Today, PTP is a unique example of a world class transshipment port that has
succeeded without hinterland cargo and displaces Malta whose limited success
as a transshipment hub was often cited as an exception.
Compared with Malta, PTP is a world ranking port and has defied text-book
model of what it takes to make a transshipment port and certainly will
feature prominently as a new model of success when the history of global
ports are re-written.
If his earlier obsession had been to just to make the volume of containers
count the success of PTP, in the last year of his office Sidik managed to
put the company into black.
That probably signaled his mission at PTP was over and was now time to move
over to another company in the stable of Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Bukhari who
hand picked Sidik out of gut feeling for his fierce optimism and passion
than for his credentials.
In the last few months, before announcements were made of his departure from
PTP, Sidik had been focusing relentlessly his efforts in “value-adding” to
PTP and that would create greater economic linkage between the port and the
economy.
As a result of his efforts, Pelepas Free Zone has now become the investment
location of choice with over RM1.5 billion committed recently by foreign
investors, attracting big names like BMW, Schenker Logistics, Linfox
Logistics, MIEL, Maersk Logistics, Tiong Nam Transport and Geodis among
others.
Sidik, who will take on the task of CEO of Senai Airport Terminal Services,
will be succeeded at PTP, by Harun Johari, who will be returning to Malaysia
from overseas and assuming the position of Chief Executive Officer in
October 2005. |
