KUALA LUMPUR: Westports Holdings Bhd expects to achieve higher overall container throughput in 2019 with growth coming from both gateway and transhipment containers.

Group managing director Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said on Thursday Westports was also finalising the planning details for the multi-billion proposed container terminal expansion.

In a statement issued on Thursday after its AGM, he said the expansion would strengthen the company and Port Klang’s role as the pre-eminent port for the nation’s gateway trade. 

“The expansion would also reinforce the terminal as one of the key transhipment hubs in the South East Asia region for international container shipping alliances,” he said.

Ruben said Westports recorded favourable volume recovery after it had transitioned successfully towards servicing container liners under their current global alliances. 

Westports' total container throughput improved in FY2018 to 9.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). 

Gateway containers increased by 18% to 3.3 million TEUs as its container terminal supported and reflected favourable domestic economic activities while transhipment volume registered a slight increase to 6.2 million TEUs.

In FY2018, Westports accommodated 6,966 container vessels and the company is berthing more and new ultra-large container vessels. 

Westports cited the OOCL United Kingdom, which is the world’s largest container vessel, made its maiden call at Westports in FY2018. 

In recent years, Westports had invested RM2.5bil in the latest state-of-the-art terminal operating equipment, and constructed contiguous linear berth with a deep draft, that would enable its terminal to support our clients’ plans of deploying ever larger vessels.  

Wesports said 62% of its containers in FY2018 were destined for countries and regions within Intra-Asia. 

These containers were loaded at a port in Asia and were subsequently shipped to a destination port within Asia as well. 

Its intra-Asia container volume grew by 14% to 5.9 million TEUs and it underpinned Westports overall throughput growth.