The group is maintaining its guidance that this year’s volume will record a “single-digit positive” growth rate.
PETALING JAYA: The front-loading of container shipments has lifted Westports Holdings Bhd
’s performance, though the port operator cautions that maintaining this momentum towards year-end could be more “uncertain”.
Still, the group is maintaining its guidance that this year’s volume will record a “single-digit positive” growth rate, following the record-breaking container throughput of 10.98 million twenty-foot equivalent units handled last year.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, Westports said the global economy continued to exhibit positive growth, albeit with reduced resilience and momentum, amid ongoing trade-tariff changes, new vessel origination and owner fees levied in the United States, trade sanctions, and diverging interest rate directions among major economies.
“The front-loading in the early part of the year has provided momentum to the current year’s overall container volume growth, but sustaining this pace towards the end of the year could be more uncertain,” it noted.
“Nevertheless, Asia’s economic dynamism, regional trade diversification, and a shipping alliance’s adjusted model have provided a broad-based demand for the regional container volume requirements.”
For the third quarter ended Sept 30, (3Q25), Westports’ topline surged 31.3% to RM751.99mil from RM572.57mil in the previous corresponding quarter.
The company attributed the growth mainly to higher container volume, but did not disclose the exact container volume handled for both 3Q25 and the first nine months of this year (9M25).
Net profit for the quarter under review rose 16.3% to RM271.11mil from RM233.07mil in 3Q24, translating to an earnings per share of 7.9 sen compared with 6.8 sen a year earlier, even as operating expenses increased.
For 9M25, the port operator’s revenue climbed 23.7% to RM2.06bil from RM1.67bil in 9M24, while net profit increased 13.1% to RM725.2mil from RM641.33mil in the same period last year.
On its ongoing expansion, Westports said dredging and land reclamation for its proposed development of container terminals (CT) 10 to 17 development had already commenced last year and would take approximately four years to complete.
The first terminal, CT10, is expected to be ready by 2028.
On Dec 8, 2023, Westports’ wholly owned subsidiary Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd (WMSB) entered into a Third Supplemental Privatisation Agreement with the government and Port Klang Authority (PKA) for the proposed expansion of CT10 to CT17.
The expansion will facilitate the development of Westports 2 (WP2).
The existing area under Westports 1 (WP1) covers 2,011 acres, which includes CT1 to CT9, while WP2 will add 743 acres from two parcels of land to be transferred by 2026.
A third parcel of underwater land, to be acquired later from the Selangor state government and transferred to PKA by 2045, will support the development of CT14 to CT17.
Under the agreement, the concession period was extended from Sept 1, 2024, to Aug 31, 2070, covering CT10 to CT13.
Upon completion of the third land transfer, the concession will be further extended to Aug 31, 2082.
The group said it will fund the development capital expenditure with a combination of internally generated funds and borrowings.
WMSB has also established a RM5bil sukuk wakalah medium term notes programme to finance the proposed expansion.
The initial development capital expenditure (capex) for WP2 is estimated at RM12.6bil.
Phase 1, covering CT10 to CT13, will take place between 2024 and 2038 with an investment of RM6.3bil, while Phase 2, for CT14 to CT17, will run from 2036 to 2053 with a similar investment of RM6.3bil.
The total projected capex for both WP1 and WP2 until 2082 is estimated at RM39.6bil, which includes equipment replacement, maintenance, and the implementation of automation and digitalisation initiatives.
