Port Klang dismisses ‘inaccurate’ high rollover rate claim

Port Klang, a major transhipment hub in Malaysia, has dismissed claims it is facing a severe congestion problem against the backdrop of a pandemic-led disruption.

Figures from freight visibility platform project44 showed the percentage of containers missing their scheduled sailings was on the rise, with some carriers and ports rolling more than half their cargo in April.  

The Malaysian harbour was said to be among the hardest hit, showing signs of “endemic congestion” with a 64% rollover ratio.

In an email statement to Lloyd’s List, the port authority general manager Capt. K. Subramaniam said the alleged results were “completely inaccurate”.

“Our records for the said period show the actual overall rollover is 12% of the total volume handled for the month, with February and March figures being 15% and 12% respectively, which is nowhere near the figures reported by project44.”

Port Klang has seen an overall recovery in box volume since August 2020, following the outbreak of the pandemic.  

Westports, the dominant operator at the port, posted a 7% increase in its transhipment throughput to 1.7m teu for the first quarter of the year.

Such an increase in cargo flow has naturally resulted in a higher demand for additional handling and storage capacity, and hence affecting the port’s productivity and ability to provide timely services to ships, said Capt Subramaniam.

“With shipping lines facing delays at several ports within the region due to productivity issues and higher demand for services, some lines omitted scheduled calls to Port Klang to make up for lost time resulting in longer dwell time in port for export and transhipment containers.”

But he described the delays as “minimal” and it was manageable for Klang with its sources to cope with the demand spike.

“The data published by project44 is questionable as the port was at no time consulted about the issue, neither was the source of information mentioned. In any case, such high rollovers as alleged would have obviously crippled any port,” he said.

Lloyd’s List has approached project44 for comment.