Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) today said it handled 1.6 million twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) from January to June 2003, up 37 percent from the same period of 2002.

PTP, which is in Johor just across the narrow Tebrau Strait from Singapore, attributed the strong growth to its success in attracting Taiwan's Evergreen Marine to shift its regional hub from Singapore to PTP.

It said there was also growth in the port's existing customers in terms of volume, vessel service calls and local cargo.

"We are pleased with the growth levels which were positive despite challenges facing the world economy. PTP will continue its focus on building up its land base through additional logistics customers and also the Phase Two terminal expansion," chief executive Sidik Shaik Osman was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

The second phase

Phase Two of PTP involves dredging and reclamation for an additional eight berths and the initial construction of two new berths.

This will add approximately 1.5 million TEUs of capacity to PTP's current capacity of 4.5 to five million TEUs annually.

The development of Phase Two, which started in August 2002, is scheduled to be completed by early 2004.

PTP's growing competitiveness has prompted Singapore to overhaul its shipping strategy, including cutting handling fees and offering shipping lines the opportunity to run their own berths. - AFP