Positive growth maintained

Cargo throughput in the first five months of this year rose by an impressive 16 per cent to 9.08 million tonnes compared with 7.82 million tonnes in the corresponding period of last year.

All type of cargoes posted positive growth in the January-May period of this year reflecting the full recovery of Malaysian economy following the Asian financial crisis 1997/98.

Growth in containerised traffic led the growth in cargo type at the port with 20 per cent increase in the first five months.

The Port's container terminal handled 3.95 million tonnes of containerised traffic during the period.

In terms of number of containers, Johor Port handled 247,945 TEUs in the January-May period of this year. The 15 per cent growth in box traffic also raised the load factor to 15.95 tonnes per TEUs during the period.

Trade in liquid bulk which remained as the second biggest type of traffic rose by 12 per cent to 3.20 million tonnes (compared with 2.86 million tones in the first five months of last year).

Palm oil, petroleum and chemicals were the principal contributors to the double-digit growth in liquid trade.

Dry bulk throughput at the Port grew by 17 per cent to 1.55 million tonnes while breakbulk registered a moderate 9 per cent growth during the first five months period.

Meanwhile Johor Port received 2633 calls in the January May 2000 compared with 2386 calls in the corresponding period of last year.