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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 previous year.
The total volume of containers handled by local
ports increased to 13.6 million TEUs
(twenty-foot equivalent units), up from 12
million TEUs handled in 2005.
A third of the volume was due to volumes at the
Port of Tanjung Pelepas, the largest container
port in the country.
With more than half of the total volume of
containers handled by ports in the country now
being 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 as reflected in the container
volumes generated on account of the national
trade handled by major ports.
Thus, while PTP and Westports recorded surging
gro-wth 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 Westports,
Port Klang, was somewhat unprecedented - in
excess of 30 per cent.
The surge in transshipment at Westports - 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.
Westports, 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 Westports, 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 one per cent to 2.7
million TEUs.
Despite the higher volume of containers handled
by Westports, 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
Westports was thus about 640 TEUs compared with
436 recorded by Northport, based on ship calls
totaling 5,600 and 5,900 by Northport and
Westports, respectively. |
