THE STAR, August 19th, 2002 - NORTHPORT and Westport in Port Klang have teamed up to ward off increasing competition posed by other terminals in the region, in particular Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) Corp.

Instead of, pinching' from each other's customers, the operators of both terminals have reached a pact to charge shipping lines same rates and refrain from 'under-cutting' one another.

With those incentives now being offered, terminal operators in Port Klang are worried that they may lose transhipment boxes to PSA Empty boxes make up about 25% of the total transhipment volume at the port.

It is learnt that Northport managing director Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader had given his views on how Port Klang could be more competitive and attractive to mainlines.

He had- given a presentation recently to the Port Klang Authority (PKA) board, which agreed to the move PKA chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ting Chew Peh said the authority would support the terminals and assist them in all ways in the interest of promoting Port Klang.

"We will ensure that the port continues to maintain its position as a top international container terminal through promotion, marketing and improving the services to face regional competition," he said

Earlier, Dr Ting presented the Malaysian flag to port community representatives and port users.

From January to June, Port Klang saw an increase of 23.1 % in container throughput to 2.16mil TEUs compared to 1.76mil boxes the same period last year. Transhipment increased by 35.3% from 854,682 TEUs last year to 1,16 mil TEUs and accounted for 53.6% of total box volume at the port.

In total, Port Klang handled 39.4mil tonnes of cargo for the first six months of the year compared to 32.9mil tonnes same time last year, an increase of 19.7%.

Container throughput has been recording double digit growth since the year 2000 in which the port handled 3.21mil TEUs. Last year box volume touched 3.76mil TEUs, an increase of 17.2%.

Transhipment rose from 1.36mil TEUs in 2000 to 1.89mil boxes last year, making up 50.2% of total container volume handled at Port Klang.

The port received more ship calls from January to June this year compared to last year, from 7,102 to 7,278 calls.

The number of container ships calling also increased to 5,212 calls this year to 4,956 last year

In terms of type, containerised cargo made up the majority handled, With 30.3mil tonnes in the first six months of the year.