The plan to establish a third container terminal in Port Klang is being opposed by the tightly knit port community in the area, which is suggesting the government build a port for niche trade instead, Business Times of Malaysia reports.
A third container terminal is unnecessary until 2020, according to Westports executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, who said cargo growth might be slowed this year by the crisis in Europe.
“The official Port Klang Masterplan shows that the full capacity of Northport and Westports is 16.5 million TEUs. We are only at nine million TEUs this year and it took us 15 years to get there from two million in 1996,” Gnanalingam said, as quoted by Business Times.
Gnanalingam instead proposed the construction of bulk-related (non-container) facilities.
Media outlets earlier reported on a proposal by a private company, Glen Marine Ports, to convert the Port Klang Cruise Centre (PKCC) into a third container port.
The Federation of Malaysia Freight Forwarders has said that the third port should be a niche port that would not compete with Northport and Westports.
“It should be a niche business, like barging, which would be suitable for the kind of depth that PKCC has,” Alvin Chua Seng Wah, president of the federation, told Business Times in late November 2011.
Port Klang, located in the state of Selangor, is the largest and busiest port in Malaysia, serving Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, and the Klang Valley, the largest conurbation in the country.
Port Klang is owned by the government-run Port Klang Authority. The authority regulates three ports in the Port Klang area—Northport, Westports and Southport, which are operated by independent corporations.
