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Notwithstanding the anticipated slower growth of the economy impacting on
the port trade in 2005, generally the demand for port services will be
sustained because of the new opportunities in handling of third country
traffic.
“The handling of transshipment traffic is expected to fuel the growth of
local ports in 2005, however, ports must not look at transshipment as end in
itself,” said the managing director/CEO of Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, Datuk
Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader.
“But ports must not look at transshipment as end in itself. Transhipment is
not something to be treated as a wharfage activity – there is much to
develop in transshipment by adding value than to load and unload containers
at berths,” said Basheer, in his outlook for the port industry in the New
Year.
He said transshipment would be the driver of growth for not just Northport
but for other major ports as well.
“However, over dependence on it can pose dangers as such traffic can shift
very easily leaving substantial infrastructure underutilized and an
unsustainable business,” he cautioned.
Transhipment must be treated as a means to an end, he stressed.
“We at Northport are committed to value adding and that explains why we have
a very high degree of distributive activity going on at our facilities than
others,” he said.
Basheer said Northport had coped well with challenges it faced in 2004,
notably in responding to a competitive marketplace and in meeting the
requirements of the structural changes in demand.
“We seem to have done extremely well (in coping with competition) as
reflected in the number of new services that we received as well as in the
expansion of services by shipping lines calling at our port,” he said.
On the prospects for Northport in 2005, Basheer said Northport was moving
away from its dependence on the national trade to fuel its growth and
cultivate transhipment to foster our sustained expansion.
“My optimism for expansion of transhipment at Northport is borne out by the
developments in the marketplace as well as the successes we have recorded in
recent years by offering ourselves as the regional transhipment hub,” he
added. |
