Traditionally Singapore has been the major transhipment port for traders moving goods from Africa to Asia, however six months’ ago, Maersk Line began offering use of the Tanjung Pelepas port in the state of Johor, Malaysia, as a storage point for its customers.
Now, it is the only shipping company for which Pelapas is a bigger transhipment port than Singapore.
Maersk Lines has been steadily increasing its use of Malaysia since 2001; offering the port as storage is the next step forward.
With increasing land costs in Singapore, a surge in demand from China and banks attempting to reduce their risk and reducing financing, traders are looking for ways to cut costs.
With Malaysia offering cheaper storage with land prices a fraction of Singapore’s, it is an ideal solution.
Commodity traders will also benefit from being able to react quicker to customer orders with a journey time of seven days from Malaysia to China instead of the 35 days it takes from Africa
