KUALA LUMPUR: MTT Shipping and Logistics Bhd is forging ahead with expansion plans and an April initial public offering (IPO), shrugging off disruptions from the Middle East war as cargo volumes hold steady.
“Our ships are still full,” Ooi Lean Hin, managing director of Malaysia’s largest container shipping operator, said in a Monday interview.
The company is seeking RM652mil from its IPO, offering 633.5 million shares at RM1.03 each for an implied market value of about RM2.58bil.
The deal came amid a pickup in listing activity, including Sunway Healthcare Holdings Bhd’s RM2.86bil offering last month, the largest in nine years.
MTT Shipping, however, isn’t insulated from rising prices due to the conflict, Ooi said. While freight costs have increased between US$50 to US$100 per twenty-foot-equivalent unit in Asia, the hikes lag behind those of other regions, he added.
Rates in Asia “are quite good at the moment,” said Ooi, a former Evergreen Marine Corp executive and chairman of the Shipping Association of Malaysia, adding that price mechanisms are in place to ensure bunker costs are passed on to customers.
MTT Shipping serves trade between Peninsular Malaysia as well as Sabah and Sarawak, where it has a 46% market share, the company said. It also operates in countries such as Indonesia and India.
MTT Shipping has Malaysia’s largest and youngest fleet of 26 container ships. It owns 25 of the vessels and uses Port Klang as its primary hub. — Bloomberg
