Despite being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd (Northport), a member of

MMC Group recorded its hiahest ever monthlv throughout for the port’s conventional carao business segment last month. Northport set a new milestone after handling 1,017,332 Freight Weight Tonnes (FWTs) in May 2021, surpassing its previous record of 968,356 FWTs recorded in August 2013.

For the first five months of 2021, Northport handled a total of 4.1 million FWTs of conventional cargo, a growth of 32% against the same period last year. The most significant contributors for the highei throughput were palm oil, grain and iron and steel products which registered sharp growths of 80%, 61% and 29% respectively against the previous year. The higher conventional cargo volume handled by Northport was to a large extent contributed by the successful handling of bigger dry bulk vessels at its terminal. Meanwhile, the Biomass Logistics Hub operation in Northport’s other terminal, Southpoint recorded a total throughput of 169,281 tonnes since January this year, an increase of 91% against the same period in 2020.

“This is the culmination of our transformation efforts in our conventional cargo operations, where we have undertaken various measures to improve our operational efficiency at both our terminals, Northport and Southpoint, including optimisation of storage space and facilities, equipment rationalisation, renegotiation of contract with vendors, process improvement through system automation and digitalisation, data mining and analytics as well as promoting transformation through talent development and behavioral competencies among our employees. All these measures have successfully helped us to sail through choppy waters especially with the operational difficulties, manpower issues and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dato’ Azman Shah Mohd Yusof, Chief Executive Officer of Northport.

“Going forward, we will centralise our container operations within one terminal and make space for conventional cargo business to grow in the other terminal. This will further improve our cargo handling productivity and create space for the construction of new facilities which will allow us to offer better productivity,” added Dato’ Azman.