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Efforts by Northport (Malaysia) Bhd to integrate its port services by
broadening its product base into providing logistics-related services have
yielded handsome dividends.
Leveraging on Northport’s excellent shipping and intermodal connectivity,
the port operating company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Northport Distripark
Sdn Bhd, has made strong inroads into the value-adding services offered at
its distripark in Northport in Port Klang.
The distripark subsidiary that is located within the Free Zone in Northport
boosted its performance substantially with its high-yielding and low cost
value-adding logistics services.
The distripark handled a total of a 136,727 TEUs in 2005, or an increase of
4.2 per cent over the volume of containers handled the previous year.
The expanding role of the 100-acre distripark is rapidly pushing Northport
up the value chain and is complemented with 12 units of warehousing
totalling 1 million sq ft space.
Disclosing this, the MD/CEO of Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, Dato Basheer Hassan
said the expansion of the value-added services by the distripark was
critical to further strengthening the role of the port in the international
trade of the country.
“Invariably too, the new source of growth also represents positive growth
drivers for the company in the years ahead,” he added.
“With the inherent advantage of Northport, that is linked to more than 300
ports worldwide, the location of our distripark within the commercial zone
of Port Klang, a competent workforce, a high level of IT application and a
competitive port pricing, we have been able to transform the logistic
distripark into a cargo hub centre for regional distribution activities,” he
said.
“Our efforts to integrate our core services with the value-added logistics
services as part of our response to the changing functionalities in the
transport and logistics pipeline have yielded positive results,” he said.
“Indeed, increasingly we see ourselves playing a role beyond one that of a
mere interface by horizontally and vertically integrating our range of
services,” he said.
Basheer noted that the successes at the distripark have been attributed to
several lead logistics players and cargo consolidators setting up base at
Northport.
In 2005 Kuehne and Nagel relocated its multi-country consolidation traffic
services to its new cargo hub located at Northport.
Currently Northport is used as the cargo hub by Kuehne and Nagel to rework
its Eastbound, Westbound and Regional Distribution containers.
Several leading 3PL (Third Party Logistics) players, International Cargo
Consolidators and Freight Forwarders using Northport as the load centre
among other are NYK Logistics, Quantum Freight, Globelink, Nistrans, Freight
Management and Interocean Freight Services are among those who are
generating strong cargo volumes.
In September 2005 Clark Shoes International, working in strategic alliance
with NYK Logistics, started using Northport Distripark as its regional
consolidation and distribution centre for value adding activities such as
bar-coding scanning, pick and pack, sorting and labeling prior to re-export.
Looking ahead at the prospects, Basheer said with the liberalization in the
automotive sector under the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), exponential growth
in volume of cars import, export and re-export through Port Klang in CBU
forms is expected to increase further.
He said leading car makers are expected to capitalize on AFTA to assemble
the various car models in the ASEAN market to reap economies of scale.
UMW Toyota has also nominated Northport as its discharge port and staging
area for 600 units of import, export and re-export cars via Northport that
now records an average of 15 ro-ro (roll on roll off) ships calls monthly.
Total car throughput projected for Northport in 2006 is expected to exceed
120,000 units per year. Currently the two Vehicle Transit Centres or VTCs
provide a total of 6,000 ground slots.
Another eight acres of land at Northport Distripark is earmark for VTC
development providing an additional 2,000 car ground slots.
“The promotion of multi-country consolidation cargo traffic, expansion of
automotive trade and the relocation of new regional distribution activities
to Northport for value-adding services will become leading growth drivers
for logistic services in 2006 and beyond,” said Basheer. |
