Team Northport > February Bulletin 1

Transhipment traffic growth at Northport

The increasing range of shipping services and geographical coverage of ports worldwide from Northport is viewed as a major boon for shipping lines to mount more regional services linking local and regional ports.

This has created opportunities for more dedicated and common feeder service operators to transship container from Northport to their final destinations.

This is evident from the increasing volume of transshipment boxes handled in 2007. Transshipment volume handled during the year was 1.04 million TEU’s, higher by 84,116 TEU’s or 8.8 per cent compared with year 2006 volume of 958,245 TEU’s. Transhipment volume made up 37.1 per cent of the total volume handled by Northport in 2007, indicating a marginal increase compared with the previous year’s level of 36.0 per cent.

Overall, Port Klang handled a transshipment volume of 4.12 million TEU’s, with the volume serviced by Northport making up 25.3% of this total.

The transshipment volume has strengthened with the inauguration of several new services over the past one year, including new services by MCC Transport, the feeder arm of Maersk. The dedicated feeder carrier started dedicated services linking regional ports in Indonesia and Vietnam in 2007. The twice weekly Indonesian service started with the arrival of Sea Navigator on April 3, 2007 connecting Northport (Port Klang) with Belawan Port in Indonesia.

MCC Transport has also strengthened Malaysia-Vietnam shipping connectivity by inaugurated a direct weekly service to the Northern Vietnam Service.The weekly service has enhanced its connectivity to the rapidly expanding Vietnamese market.

MCC Transport offers two weekly sailings, namely the South Vietnam Service linking Ho Chi Minh and other seaports in Vietnam namely Hi Phong, Qui Nhon and Nhatrang. The southbound service links Northport, Penang, Tanjung Pelepas, Hi Phong, Qui Nhon, Nhatrang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas while the northbound includes Port Klang and Penang.

CNC Line has also contributed to transshipment with its the intra Asian liner service known as Thailand Malaysia Jakarta Service.