NCB seen handling more vehicle volumes after MMC injects new business

KLB, which is under the DRB-Hicom Group, is linked to NCB’s newest substantial shareholder MMC Corp, which bought over MISC's 15.74% stake last November.

KLB launched its first vessel specialising in vehicle transportation at NCB's flagship Northport terminal. According to KLB ceo Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh, the vessel will initially focus on the Port Klang to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching routes.

The vessel, named as MV Zarah Sofia has the capacity to transport about 2,500 cars at any time and plans to sail 28 times a year.

Besides transporting vehicles for its sister company, Proton Holdings, KLB is also marketing its services to other automobile manufacturers and distributors.

“Ultimately, we are looking to increase the fleet to cover regional Asean ports as the outlook for the automobile industry remains steady,” said Shukrie.

DRB-Hicom chairman Syed Mohamad Syed Murtaza said this was the biggest investment of the group year-to-date.

“The expansion of KLB into sea automobile transport is part of the group’s bigger plan to provide inter-modal logistics solutions and integrated supply chain,” he said.

NCB that has seen its profit growth impacted by its bleeding logsistics arm is still in the process of turning around Kontena Nasional.