WESTPORT Malaysia started the year on a right foot as five new services have started at the nation's mega transhipment hub. With its new berth waiting to be commissioned within the next three months, the increase in service is a sign of good times.

It is no surprise that as a port that emphasises on excellent customer service and an ever-increasing rate of productivity, Westport has earned confidence from prominent main line operators to be part of the port of call for their new services.

To cater for the growing trade between East Asia and the Middle East; American President Line (APL) combined forces with French Liner CMA-CGM to start the Red Sea Express (REX).

This service connects ports such as Shanghai, Chiwan and Hong Kong to ports in the Middle East. The first vessel, which marked the inauguration call of the REX service at Westport, was CMA-CGM's M.V Engiadina on Jan 8. Six vessels are deployed for this service. The rotation period for this service is 40-42 days and there will be weekly sailings to Westport. The call of MV Scotia of Gold Star Line Ltd on Feb 24 marked the second direct service to major ports in Australia such as Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle and Melbourne from Westport.

The AES (Australia East Asia Service) is a joint effort by four shipping lines: Goldstar Line Ltd, China Shipping Container Line, Hamburg Sud, and COSCO Line. Each partner in this weekly service will provide a vessel. Prior to this service, Hanjin Shipping with Regional Container Line and Lloyd Triestino started a service to Australia.

In another combination of forces, Norasia Container Lines launched its Round The World (RTW) service with Gold Star Line Ltd and China Shipping Container Lines.

To offer better service and to strengthen this round-the-world service, a new vessel was added to the service. Thus, there are 13 vessels plying in this service, out of which Norasia deploys nine. Making its inaugural call at Westport Malaysia, MV Atlas docked at the port on March 1. The port rotation of this is westbound service is Shanghai/ Ningbo/ Xiamen/ Shekou/ Singapore/ Port Klang/ Jebel Ali/ Mundra/ Nhava Sheva/ Tuticorin/ Colombo/ Damietta/ Felixstowe/ Rotterdam/ Hamburg/ New York/ Norfolk/ Charleston/ Kingston/ Los Angeles/ Shanghai.

Westport added another feather to its cap with a new service to South America through the SEAS service that links ports in Asia, South Africa and South America.

This service is a joint vessel partnership with CMA-CGM, China Shipping Container Lines and Maruba Lines.

There are 10 vessels of 1900-2500 teus capacity for this service. CMA-CGM will operate five vessels; China Shipping Container Line and Maruba Lines will deploy three and two vessels respectively.

This joint service will have two calls weekly to Westport: Friday(westbound) and Wednesday (eastbound). The SEAS service will offer direct port calls to Durban, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Buenos Aires, Rio Grande and Paranagua on the westbound calls.

Eastbound vessels will call on Hong Kong, Pusan, Shanghai, Ningbo and Chiwan.

Norasia's latest service, the Asia Middle East Express (AME) Service, has also made Westport as its port of call. This service began its operation with the call of MY Atria on June 3. This service will link Port Klang directly to five key ports in north Europe, making the AME one of the fastest port-to-port services.

Norasia will deploy nine vessels with 4,000 TEUs capacity and speed of 24 knots to perform this service. Westport regional and domestic connectivity has been boosted by a new feeder service by China Shipping Container Lines. MV Xiang Feng marked the inauguration of the Mix North Service on June 20 at the terminal.

The service will call on Westport, every Monday and Friday. Other ports of call in this service are Belawan and Penang. Westport offers feeder services to all major ports within Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

The launching of these new services will strengthen Westport's presence as the mega transhipment hub of this region and stand as testament to the productivity and service rendered at this terminal.

"We are confident in our ability to serve the needs of Malaysian shippers with our record in reliability combined with cost-effective operations and good relationships with global shipping companies," said Westport's executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam.

Westport has made a rapid and impressive transformation from a Greenfield port to a modern world-class facility that has connections to major ports in Asia, Australia, Africa, America, Europe and South America. The new shipping services should result in greater flow of cargo. It is also expected that the services will boost the terminal's volume for 2005.

The NST, 28.6.2005