Westports ceo further plays down impact of P3 volumes loss

He reiterated his previous statement that "the decrease in vessel calls does not equate to a decrease in volume," local media reported.

He added that “we could just strategise to increase the volume per call to mitigate this impact, which I expect to be very minimal and immaterial.’’

Gnanalingam was cited claiming that CMA CGM still preferred Port Klang as its hub and questioned whether they had any real intention of switching to another port. “From our discussions with them so far, they still prefer Port Klang to be their hub,” he said.

Analysts Alphaliner, however, underscored in their latest weekly report extent of the services that Port Klang is set to lose under the proposed P3 service network. It said the rationalisation of P3’s Southeast Asian hubs would see the number of calls at Port Klang reduced from 13 to five weekly. All the Port Klang calls will focus on the Asia – Europe trades.

Gnanalingham added that CMA CGM also had a lot of non-P3 volume coming in to Port Klang, noting that the line contributed about 2.4m teu a year from its total of 6.9m teu last year.

He also pointed out that the main services for the planned P3 routing included the Asia-Europe trade, which was not exactly one of the fastest-growing segments in container shipping.

He concluded that the outlook for Westports is still bright with the completion of container terminal six that is already being fully utilised.