Penang Port to beef up non-containerised cargo segment

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) is looking at increasing the contribution from non-containerised cargo segment to its revenue this year.

Penang Port Sdn Bhd chief operating officer Obaid Mansor said in an interview that the handling for non-containerised cargo had improved to 8 million tonnes from January to September, compared with 7.59 million tonnes in the previous corresponding period.

The total tonnage of containerised and non-containerised cargo for the first nine months is 21.9 million tonnes, compared with 21.6 million tonnes a year earlier.

“The contribution of non-containerised cargo to PPSB’s revenue should increase to around 35% this year from about 30% a year ago,” he said.

Last year, PPSB registered an after tax profit of RM15.6mil on the back of RM328mil revenue.

Non-containerised cargo comprises items such as palm oil, raw sugar, fertiliser, and scrap iron.

On containerised cargo, Obaid said for the first nine months, the handling containerised cargo had fell by 2% to 867,650 TEUs (Twenty-foot equivalent units), compared with 886,607 TEUs previously.

“Compared with the projected figure for the nine months of 2012 which is 940,500, the drop is 7.7%, due to the slowdown in China and Europe. So far, we have achieved 867, 650, which means we have to handle more than 300,000 TEUs in the fourth quarter.

Obaid said PPSB hoped to maintain the volume at 1.198mil TEUs.

Onthe implementation of newport tariffs, Obaid said the Government had yet to give approval. “The Penang Port Consultative Committee, comprising trade organisations and freight forwarders, has agreed with the proposal from PPSB to raise tariffs.”