EVERGREEN SWITCHES SOUTHEAST ASIAN HUB FROM SINGAPORE TO MALAYSIA
Container shipping giant Evergreen Line is moving its Southeast Asian transshipment hub from Singapore, the dominant port in the region, to the Malaysian port of Tanjung Pelepas.
The port of Tanjung Pelepas, located 25 kilometers west of Singapore at the southwest tip of the Malaysian peninsula, started operating in 2000 and has also attracted Maersk Sealand away from the port of Singapore.
“PSA regrets that an agreement could not be reached by both parties,” said PSA Corp., the operator of the port of Singapore, commenting on the departure of Evergreen.
All the mainline services operated by Evergreen and its affiliates — Lloyd Triestino, Hatsu and Uniglory — are expected to switch to Tanjung Pelepas in the third quarter of this year. Whether services operated jointly by Evergreen and other carriers will also switch to the Malaysian port is unclear.
“The departure by Evergreen is not expected to have a significant impact on PSA’s financial performance as PSA has a diversified customer base and a growing global market,” the Singaporean port group said.
Earlier this week, the embattled PSA group reported a 2-percent fall in group revenue, to S$2.28 billion
(US$1.2 billion), a 6-percent drop in operating profit, to S$1.1 billion ($585 million) and a 3-percent decrease in global container throughput volume, to 19.13 million TEUs in 2001.
APM Terminals, a sister company of Maersk Sealand, is a major shareholder in the port of Tanjung Pelepas.