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Port
of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) sees 2010 and 2011 as
the most challenging years for growth as the
global economy should enter a recovery period
after almost a year of recession.
Chief executive officer Capt Ismail Hashim said
PTP is like any other port in the world and
depended on the global trade activities and
volumes.
He said in the last 12 months or so, all port
operators had been operating in a very
challenging business environment due to the
economic downturn.
He said in September and October, PTP registered
a 3.4% and 5% increase in volume respectively
compared with the same months last year.
Ismail said the port handled 4.9 million TEUs
(twenty-foot equivalent units) in the first 10
months of the year and was confident of
recording 6 million TEUs in 2009 against 5.6
million TEUs in 2008.
He said last year, PTP had captured 8% of
South-East Asia’s total port market and expected
to increase the market share to 10% this year.
Although there were already indications the
global economy was on the road to recovery based
on the economic figures released from the United
States and Japan, it was still too early to
rejoice, he said, adding that there were 10%
reductions in the total global container
throughput in the last one year and the outlook
for 2010 was not that rosy as it was still
uncertain where the global economy would be
heading.
“We handle 95% transhipment and 5% hinterland or
local cargo and want to increase the latter to
20% in our short- to medium-term business plan,”
Ismail added.
He said the logistics sector, one of the five
existing economic pillars in Iskandar Malaysia,
was being developed and strengthened under the
Iskandar Comprehensive Develop-ment Plan from
2006 until 2025.
The other four pillars are electrical and
electronics, petrochemical and oleochemical,
food and agro-processing and tourism.
The five existing core sectors are health
services, educational services, financial
services, ICT and creative industries.
Ismail said the development and presence of
strong logistics infrastructure in Iskandar
would attract investors, industries and
manufacturers which in turn would benefit
service providers such as PTP.
PTP, together
with
Johor Port and Senai Airport which are closely
linked to business tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar
Al-Bukhari, would be among the beneficiaries as
these entities are located within the five
flagship development zones in Iskandar.
“Apart from Iskandar, the Singapore factor will
also benefit us by attracting haulers from there
to PTP.”
He said PTP would expand its port infrastructure
in line with the expected increase and long-term
goal and two new berths would be added under its
phase two expansion plan.
Ismail said the port would be calling for tender
early next year to build the 13th and 14th
berths. Work on them should start in the third
quarter of 2010 and it would take 18 months to
complete.
PTP currently has 12 berths and a
terminal-handling capacity of 10 million TEUs.
He said under the phase three expansion
plan, the port would build eight new berths and
include land reclamation and dredging.
“We are looking at organic growth and our
long-term plan is to have 95 berths where our
capacity will reach 150 million TEUs,” said
Ismail.
He said PTP’s 404.68ha Pelepas Free Zone (PFZ)
had 50 clients now with an average warehousing
occupancy rate of 68%.
Companies with a presence in the PFZ include
CIBA Vision, Flextronics, BMW, JST, Maersk
Logistics, Nagai Nitto, Schenker Logistics and
Century Logistics.
Source: STAR BUSINESS
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