Westports running out of terminals

Malaysia’s Westports Holdings Berhad is planning to put in motion a USD 300 million “Container Terminal 8 Expansion Plan,” spurred on by increasing container volumes and high terminal utilization rates recorded in the first nine months of 2014. The company recorded a 12% surge in its container volume throughput to 6.18 million TEU in the first 9 months of 2014, with container volumes
hitting the 700,000 TEU mark since May 2014. Terminal utilisation has also increased due to the better-than-expected container volumes. Terminal utilisation for the newly completed Container Terminal 7 (CT7) which will be fully operational by the end of November 2014 has climbed up to 80% with the commissioning of the last batch of 3 ship-to-shore cranes.

The high utilisation rate of the CT7 terminal has triggered the need for the next phase of terminal expansion, and therefore the board of Westports has decided to embark on the expansion plan for CT8 which the company says is critical in ensuring the continuous growth moving forward. CT 8 Expansion Plan consists of a 600-meter wharf and its supporting yard; back-of-terminal facilities comprising of 2nd container gate, marshalling centre, and container freight station facilities; 14 units of ship-to-shore cranes; and rubber-tyred gantry cranes, terminal tractors and trailers. CT 8 expansion plan is expected to commence by early 2015, and will be carried out in two phases. Phase 1 which consists of 300-meter wharf and supporting port equipment and facilities is expected to complete by 2016, while the completion for phase 2 is expected to be mid-2017. Once fully operational the CT 8 will increase Westports’ container handling capacity from the present 11 million TEU to 13.8 million TEU.