PORT OF TANJUNG PELEPAS CHALLENGES SINGAPORE’S HUB POSITION

U.S./COLOMBIA CARRIERS RAISE RATES    Tanjung Pelepas, the newly-developed Malaysian container port, is challenging Singapore’s position as the natural transshipment port for Southeast Asia.
   Tanjung Pelepas, located on the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsular close to Singapore, attracted its first big mainline containership call on Sunday.
   The “Cornelius Maersk,” a 6,600-TEU mega-containership operated by Maersk Sealand, made its first call at the new port. Maersk Sealand said that the call was a trial.
   Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is the first shipping line to have announced the commencement of regular, scheduled calls at Tanjung Pelepas. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is adding a call at the port to its Japan/Hong    Kong/Straits weekly service at the end of this month.
   The port of Tanjung Pelepas, developed under a privatization operation signed in 1995, started its operations last October. A spokesman for the port said that 80 percent of its cargo throughput will come from container transshipment.
   The port aims to handle 500,000 TEUs this year by attracting mainline containership operators and regional Asian feeder operators.
   The port currently operates two container berths and will eventually have six berths, with a total annual handling capacity of 3.8 million TEUs.
   The port of Singapore, Southeast Asia’s large and highly profitable state-controlled hub port, currently dominates the port transshipment business in the region despite the development of new container ports nearby.
   “Four major trade lanes are at our doorstep — Europe/Far East, intra-Asia, transpacific and Southeast Asia/Australasia,” a spokesman for the port of Tanjung Pelepas said.