Penang Port's NBCT likely to miss 2013 throughput targets

Obaid Mansor , coo of the terminal's operator Penang Port was quoted as saying that there would be a 5% increase in the volume of container cargo handled at NBCT to 1.16m teus butbut this would still fall short of their target.

Year-to-date till November, NBCT has handled 1.12m teus compared with 1.06m teu in the same period last year.

“There was some pickup in cargo activities in the third quarter due to intra-Asian trade involving China. But most of the cargo handled were coming into the country rather than going out. The ratio is 56% imported and the remaining 44% exported, which shows that the global economy is still sluggish,” Obaid said. Overall throughput cargo was also likely to miss targets, Obaid said. NBCT would be unlikely to achieve its targeted 32.9m freight weight tonnes (fwt) set for this year, compared with the 29.8m fwt achieved last year.

As at October, NBCT handled 24.3m fwt of cargo, of which 35% are non-container cargo and the remaining 65% containerised cargo.