Throughout poised for high growth

The total sea borne trade at the Port in the first nine months of this year posted a double growth of 14 per cent to 17.46 million fwt compared with 15.26 million fwt in the corresponding of previous year.

Containerised tonnage rose by 19 per cent to 7.89 million fwt in the January-August period of this year as against 6.63 million tonnes during the same period of last year. The double-digit growth increased the share of containerized traffic to 45.17 per cent of total traffic.

In terms of box traffic, the Johor Port Container Terminal handled 494,547 TEUs in the first eight months period of 2000 compared with 414,258 TEUs during the corresponding period of 1999.

Average monthly container lifting in the January-August of this year posted a double-digit growth totalling 54,949 TEUs in 2000 compared with 46,028 TEUs in 1999. Load factor stands at 15.95 tonnes per TEU in the January-August period of this year.

Liquid bulk trade rose by 11 per cent to 6.07 million fwt.  The biggest contribution is from petrochemical trade which recorded highest growth rate of 98 per cent during nine months period.

For the first time, nine months petrochemical offtake exceeded one million mark at Johor Port.

The Port handled 542,340 fwt of petrochemical traffic during the previous nine months period. Petroleum traffic at the port jumped by 98 per cent during the period under review.

However, vegetable oil trade slipped by 14 per cent to 2.57 million fwt in the nine months period. Felda Johor Bulkers remained as the single biggest user of the vegetable oil facilities.

Break bulk trade declined marginally by two per cent to record 668,597 fwt in the first nine months period of this year. Trade in in plates and coils rose by seven per cent to 216,990 fwt compared with 203,524 fwt during the period under review. The handling of other type of breakbulk cargoes like sawn timber, bagged cargo, drummed cargo slipped during the period under review.