Westport CEO Ruben Emir Gnanalingam says there would be some re-routing of services out of Westports once the P3 alliance, involving CMA CGM Group, Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co, come into effect mid-2014, but the reduced capacity would be mitigated by the growth of cargo handling underpinned by robust global trading environment.
KUALA LUMPUR: Westports Holdings Bhd
’s net profit fell 12.1% to RM123.8mil in the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 compared with RM140.9mil due to higher depreciation and finance cost.
The group recorded operational revenue of RM385.1mil in the first quarter, down by 12% compared to corresponding period last year, mainly due to adoption of MFRS 15 from Jan 1, 2018.
Commenting on its prospects, Westports said its container throughput is expected to register modest growth rate of low single-digit percentage in 2018.
The container operations handled 2.25 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 1Q 2018. The Intra-Asia segment now constituted 61% of the total containers handled, and this trade lane saw a favourable increase of 12%.
Westports continued to facilitate and support domestic economic activities as the gateway volume improved strongly by 25% in 1Q 2018. Transhipment volume has also improved when compared with the preceding quarter to 1.48 million TEUs.
“The first quarter results reflected the residual impact from the unprecedented realignment within the container shipping industry in 2017. Even though the container volume is lower when compared to the corresponding period, both the gateway and transhipment volume, however, show improvement when compared with the preceding quarter in 2017,” group managing director Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said in a statement.
Under Day 2 of Ocean Alliance in its second year of operations, Westports is now accommodating and handling the newest Ultra-Large Container Vessels (ULCV). CMA CGM’s newest, largest and flagship container vessel, the CMA CGM Antoine de Saint Exupery with a carrying capacity of 20,600 TEUs, made its maiden call at Westports on April 17.
On April 20, Evergreen’s newest and largest container vessel, Ever Golden on its westbound service to North Europe, also called at Westports.
“We have made significant investments of more than RM2bil in recent years to enhance our container terminal facilities and equipment to be able to handle these ULCV.
“The capability to accommodate them, as the container shipping industry takes delivery of ever more ULCV, will strengthen Westports as the pre-eminent port for the nation’s gateway trade while also being one of the main transhipment hubs in the region,” Ruben said.
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