This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 11, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Westports Holdings Bhd expects to handle an all-time record of more than 10 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers this year.

Its group managing director Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said this will account for about 80% of Port Klang’s overall container volume.

“Westports has been the fastest-growing terminal in Port Klang over the past 25 years,” Ruben said in a statement yesterday. “We should be able to achieve a double-digit percentage growth rate in 2019 over the previous year based on our current growth momentum.”

Westports recorded 9.5 million TEUs in the financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18), up 5.6% against nine million in FY17 but lower than the 9.9 million registered in FY16, according to the group’s annual report.

Ruben said Westports is currently finalising the layout design for the expansion of its container terminal facilities and additional wharves for the conventional business segment.

“These expansions would pave the way for significant further growth in the coming decades as we serve our customers, international container shipping alliances and local logistics stakeholders,” he said.

Westports, which is involved in container and conventional cargo handling and the provision of other port services, commenced operations in 1994 and was one of the privatisation initiatives under the then and now prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In the past 25 years, Westports has handled a cumulative total of more than 110 million TEUs of container throughput and 250 million tonnes of many types of conventional cargo. The total shipments handled weight more than 1.3 billion tonnes.