PTP invest in new equipment

Along with six other international ports – Felixstowe, Rotterdam, Yantian, Bremerhaven, Shanghai and Ningbo – PTP has been chosen by Maersk Line for their Daily Maersk programme. All will be required to build new cranes in order to be able to accommodate larger vessels.

Datuk Mohd Sidik Shaik Osman, chairman, PTP, said: “The industry is continuously evolving and shipping lines continue to build larger vessels to achieve economies of scale. Ports will therefore need to deploy bigger capacity cranes. We plan to purchase eight of these cranes at a total cost of RM250 million (US$78.4m). We will also invest in 32 additional units of RTG cranes at the total cost of more than RM200 million (US$62.7m).”

“Efficiency encompasses a few factors; amongst them are high productivity in terms of fast crane movements and the ability to turn-around vessels quickly”, he continued.

Previously, the port was on track to handle 8m teu’s for the full year of 2012 but with new berths and supporting equipment, the port’s capacity has increased to 10m teu’s.