Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Northport embarks on long-term plan to maintain competitiveness

KUALA LUMPUR: Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, the country's largest multi-purpose port operator, is embarking on a long term plan to further expand port capacity to maintain its global competitiveness.

Chief executive officer and managing director, Datuk Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader said:"We hope the plan to add capacity will enable us to meet customer needs in the long term. "We hope to increase at least up to 40 per cent capacity under this plan. "With the country's economy back on the road to recovery, we are optimistic of future growth," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the global finance forum, themed, "Dawn of the New Decade: Alternative Investments in Asia", here today.

The two-day conference organised by the International Herald Tribune (IHT) and the London Speakers Bureau, ends today. When asked about the allocation for the expansion, Basheer said the investment would involve a sizeable amount but did not disclose the figure as Northport is in the midst of preparing the budget.

He said work on the expansion plan is scheduled to start next year and involves upgrading current facilities, adding new cranes, berths and key lines. "We are also introducing new services as part of the effort to attract more new prominent shipping lines to the port," he added.

For the six months ended June 30 this year, Northport achieved a throughput of 879,610 (twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), reflecting an increase of 29.6 per cent from the 678,929 TEUs in the previous corresponding period.

The year-to-date, the throughput achieved is 1,659,477 TEUs, representing an increase of 27.7 per cent as against the 1,299,562 TEUs previously.

Source: StarBiz

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