FROM a port handling conventional business, Westport is ready to embark on the needs and demands of the industry of tomorrow.
Break Bulk to Liquid Bulk to Dry Bulk followed by Roll On Roll Off operations, Westport's conventional operations have done it all and it is recognised among the leading ports in Malaysia for handling conventional cargoes.
By constantly achieving more than the pre-set standard, it can handle more cargoes with faster turn- around time, therefore giving savings to clients in the form of vessel charter and demurrage. At the Dry Bulk Terminal, Westport handles loose grains that are discharged via Unloader Cranes and brought to the distribution point via conveyor belts that is 3.5 km in length, which connects to all landed customers.
Dry Bulk 2 is an additional stand-alone terminal used to discharge non-grain cargo such as clinker, cement, NPK, NK, MOP, Ammn. Nit Fertilisers, Slag and Gypsum. For total Dry Bulk, Westport handled 1.1 million metric tonnes in 1996. Last year, Westport handled 3.8 mil MT of total Dry Bulk cargoes and is projected to handle 4.2 mil MT this year.
From discharging at a rate of 3,000 MT a day, Westport now discharges dry bulk cargoes at 15,000 MT a day. This rise has surpassed the industry requirement of 5,000 MT a day. May 11, 2000 marked an important moment for Dry Bulk business at Westport when MY Da Fu discharged 34,809 MT of soya bean at 21,230.39 MT per day.
Break Bulk include scrap metal, pig iron, timber, plywood, MDF, billets, palletized cargo, coils, beams, project cargo and machinery.Since the introduction of fast food standards, a set of discharge/ loading standards for various types of cargoes that was initiated back in the late 1997. Westport has continued to improve on productivity and volume.
Liquid Bulk segment consists of all forms of liquefied and gas cargoes that are transported via liquid bulk tankers.Currently, Westport has three main terminals for this purpose. It recently constructed a state-of-the-art facility to cater for the larger vessels of tomorrow such as Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), which is more than 300 metres in length and can carry more than 100,000 tonnes of liquid cargo at a much faster discharge and load rate.
Last year was an excellent year for Roll On Roll Off business, a transit centre that uses a paperless clearance system through smart cards. This was set up through a joint venture set up with K-Line, NYK, Mitsui OSK and Consortium Perkapalan Malaysia by way of Vehicle Transit Consortium.
The NST , 10 September 2004. |
