Westports Aims for Malaysia’s 30 Million TEU Target

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Westports Holdings has received an in-principle approval from the Malaysian government to expand container terminal facilities at its wholly-owned subsidiary Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd (WMSB) so it can achieve over double its current total handling capacity by 2040.

Once approval for the terminal operator is granted by the government, an extra 10 terminals will be added to Westports’ current CT1 to CT9 development, with the first phase taking place from 2019 to 2024.

Wesports is expected to spend approximately $2.34 billion to increase its current capacity of 12 million TEUs per year to 30 million TEU by 2040.

Last year, Westports handled 18% of all containers passing through the Straits of Malacca, and 76% of containers in Port Klang.

The project will further strengthen Port Klang as the pre-eminent port for the nation's gateway trade as well as a transhipment hub in the region.

It was recently reported that intermodal projects springing up in Malaysia may present competition for Singapore as a top regional port in Asia.

However, Alphaliner's global top 20 list of ports has revealed that the Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas were the only two to experience a drop in volumes.

Port Klang dropped 3.1% to  6.3 million TEU and Tanjung Pelepas fell 4% to 4.1 million TEU.

Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, Chief Executive Officer, Westports, said: “The proposed expansion can potentially increase the total handling capacity of Westports up to 30 million TEU per annum.

“The approval also reflects the [government's] commitment to prioritize Port Klang as the load centre of Malaysia.”

RAM Rating Services expects Malaysian port developments to stay on track and container and cargo figures at key ports to remain healthy this year.

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