PORT KLANG, 11 Sept: The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, consented to inaugurate the 7th Container Terminal (CT7) and Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s 20th anniversary.

The celebration organised marks Westports’ progress of being fully operational since 1996 in container operations in Selangor.

The Inauguration of Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd is also an important pulse in the national container industry, in addition to contributing to Selangor’s economic growth, especially in Pulau Indah.

The theme this year is ‘One Team One Dream’.

Westports only began container operations in 1996 by handling 19,000 TEUs.

TEUs is the measurement method used to determine the number of containers.

There are two types of containers used; 40-feet and 20-feet.

Two years earlier, Westports started handling conventional cargo.

The following year, Wesports managed to achieve a total of 117,000 TEUs of containers and 470,000 TEUs in 1998.

The Westports Chief Executive Officer, Ruben Emir Gnanalingam, said that in 2013, Westports managed to handle 7.5 million TEUs and targets 8 million TEUs this year.

“We also increased the market share of containers in Port Klang from 1 percent in 1996 to 33 percent in 2000.

“And now, it is a market leader in Port Klang by reaching 73 percent last year,” he said in his keynote address at the opening.

Overall, Westports has achieved a turnover of 374 percent from 2011 to 2013.

Westports also ensured that Port Klang developed by 166 percent since 2001 to reach 10 million TEUs in 2013, thus becoming the 12th largest port in the world.

In addition to that, he said that Westports also focuses on four development programmes based on demand and feedback from the residents of Pulau Indah which includes the reduction of poverty, improvement of health, crime reduction and educational development.

“40 percent of employees here are residents of Pulau Indah and the success of the poverty reduction programme is evident when Pulau Indah became a poverty-free zone.

“We provide clinics, ambulances, firefighters and police officers on duty for 24 hours.

“We also provide CCTV services to monitor crime at hotspots on the island to prevent crime,” he said.

NS