CHINA Shipping will continue to grow its operations in Malaysia, with plans to start a third direct call at Port Klang and increase liftings at the port by 40% this year.

The carrier also has plans to set up its regional documentation and operational centre in Kuala Lumpur, said China Shipping (Malaysia) Agency managing director Tang Wan Jun.

He said Malaysia featured prominently in the company’s overall business in Asia with potential to develop more services.

“For the whole of this year, we are targeting a lifting of 350,000 TEUs at Port Klang compared to 250,000 TEUs last year.

“By the second half of this year, China Shipping will be phasing in its new 8,000 TEU container ships and over the next two years, we will have the 9,600-TEU ones. All these vessels will call Port Klang.

Recently, China Shipping announced it would be adding 10 new ships of 8,200-TEU capacity by June this year, and another 10 new ships of 9,600-TEU capacity next year or in 2006.

The line’s services at Port Klang would further be increased to two services per day, from the current one, making it a total of 14 services a week.

Tang said a third westbound Europe service would be started, most likely in the fourth quarter of the year. A second service recently began calling at Westport on March 6.

He said China Shipping was likely to set up its regional operations centre-cum-documentation centre in Malaysia.

“Our principal has not decided yet but it will most probably be in Kuala Lumpur. We set up one centre in Houston, US in 2002 and there are plans to establish another two offices, one in Europe and another in South East Asia, which covers the areas from Bangladesh to Vietnam.

“The centre will process all the documentation and monitoring of container movement for that region.

“We will also be opening an office in Westport and are currently negotiating with the management regarding the terms. We expect to move in either in May or June.”

Tang did not discount the possibility of starting representative offices in other ports in the country, including in East Malaysia.

“We may open in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu since we are already moving some containers there. However we are looking into it and will only go ahead if we get the green light from our principal.”

Tang said China Shipping had grown since the line first made Port Klang its main transhipment hub, moving all its services from Singapore since 2001.

He said liftings at Westport had increased over the years, recording 220,000 TEUs in 2002 and growing to 250,000 TEUs last year.

“We are happy with Westport but as with all other things, there is always room for improvement. Productivity and movement are good.

“Our only concern is efficiency and we hope they can continuously increase those as the months go by.

“Westport is our last port of call on the westbound route. Therefore everything needs to be planned properly before the vessel sails.”

Tang nevertheless said Port Klang needed to tie certain loose ends in terms of operational efficiencies, especially between Northport and Westport, its terminals.

“If both Northport and Westport can combine, then it will be better. For example, in Singapore, although they have different terminals, all charge the same rates and offer the same standards of service. The same goes for Shanghai.”

He said one of the setbacks faced by shipping lines due to the different operations at both Northport and Westport was the issue of inter-terminal transfer (ITT).

“In Singapore, all ITT costs are included in the contract between terminal and lines and there are no additional charges,” he told Star Maritime in an interview at the company’s newly opened office in Petaling Jaya.

On the competition faced by Port Klang in the region and its bid to make it to be one of the top 10 container ports worldwide, Tang said for now, Port Klang should focus on tackling Singapore and other regional ports.

“The Chinese ports are growing very aggressively and it may be difficult to compete and beat them. As for Singapore, Port Klang is already able to offer reasonable rates but it still may not be able to compare in terms of services.

“Singapore has invested a lot in IT, security and other shipping-related services such as bunker and barge operations.”

Asked to comment on how Malaysian freight forwarders could work with their counterparts in China as the country was becoming a major economic powerhouse and trading nation, Tang said local freight forwarders needed to be more professional.

“There are many of them but they are not strong, and a lot of them just provide local services. Very few have invested in IT. They should combine their resources to provide better services to shippers, consignees and shipping lines.

“In China, only Class 1 freight forwarders are allowed to issue invoices and they must have a minimum paid up capital and be approved by the government.”

Tang said China Shipping would continue to grow its business internationally and in Asia, and that Asian shipping lines would also lead the way in the global shipping arena.

“A lot of products are sourced from here and Asian carriers are familiar with this trade and know how to play the game.

“In our case, the government also supports our own shipping lines, making it is easy for us to develop.

“China needs more raw materials and products and a lot of it is sourced from here. Perhaps the company may even start Intra Asia services but currently the ocean freight rates are low.

“Possibly once the bigger vessels come into service, we may use the other ships for that route. Over the next two to three years, China will need to do more business with Southeast Asia.

“This is good in so far as Port Klang is concerned at it is our transhipment hub. We will bring in more business to Malaysia and other feeders will also start looking at calling Port Klang when the transhipment volume increases. It will be good for the country.”