Sunday, May 9, 2010

Northport expects further volume increase

Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, which recorded a 26% jump in volume for the first quarter of this year against the same period last year, is positive of a further uptrend in its business.

For the first three months of this year, Northport’s volume hit 779, 867 twenty-foot equivalents (TEUs).

Northport managing director Datuk Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader said the port recorded a 30% growth in transhipment containers, which reflected a strong resurgence in regional economies.

“We are confident of a sustainable growth in container volume at Northport, based on a positive forecast of the country’s economy and also on recovery trends in the shipping market,” he said in a statement.

Basheer added that recent developments in the fleet deployment of shipping lines – which included restoration of suspended services, injection of additional ships and changes in their service strings – mirrored the renewed confidence in the shipping markets.

“Based on these demands, Northport aims to chart a cargo volume increase of between 10% and 15% for this year against that of last year.

“The positive forecast is also applicable to our non-containerised cargo business that recorded a 40% growth in the first quarter of this year compared with a year ago,” he said.

Source: StarBiz

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