Could you introduce Port Klang and its role in the Malaysian maritime ecosystem?

Port Klang started as a small riverine port 100 years ago and has grown into the world’s 12th largest port by container throughput. We are situated smack in the middle of the Straits of Malacca, the busiest shipping lane in the world, traversed by 100,000 ships yearly. Since the 1900s, we have been driving a policy to develop the port as a hub for transshipment and international cargo, transshipment representing 60% of our total volume of handlings today. Besides our location, Malaysia is a maritime nation, with a huge coastline of more than 4,500 km offering immense opportunities. Investors are also drawn to the surrounding areas of the Port, including the Klang Valley, which is one of the country’s biggest industrial zones. We have also invested in a Special Economic Zone, which is right next to Westport and covers 1,000 acres of industrial land to develop manufacturing and commercial activities. Port Klang is an approved and licensed delivery point for the London Metal Exchange, with a lot of storage for non-ferrous metals like aluminum, lead, and zinc.

Could you walk us through the main capacity developments, both completed and planned?

We are lucky to be in an area with available land, sufficient sea frontage, and easy access to shipping lanes, just 20 minutes away from the Malacca Straits. Port Klang has three main terminals: our oldest, the Southport Terminal; Northport, developed in the 1960s and fully utilized by the 1990s; and Westport, which was built in the mid-1990s with a view to sustaining the port industry for the next three decades. We are currently utilizing about 75-80% of our existing 20 million TEUs capacity. Looking forward, just like Singapore, Rotterdam, or Antwerp are building mega-expansions for the future, Port Klang is also looking to expand our capacity by 60% by adding another 4.8 km of wharf length. Westport 2, as it is known, is in the final stages of approvals and the development stage should commence by the end of this year and will be completed by 2035.

Beyond 2035, Port Klang Authority made an announcement that we will construct a RM28 billion port on Carey Island, which will be developed in phases and completed by 2060. Carey will be as big as Singapore’s Tuas.

How is Port Klang aligning with national targets to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030?

Under the Ministry of Transport, the Ports have a very clear blueprint towards net zero by 2050. Our sustainability agenda needs to tackle both port activities and shipping activities, since we represent the interface of both. The shipping industry is well governed with clear guidelines and conventions from the IMO, which are geared towards decarbonization via the switch to cleaner fuels, starting with low carbon transition fuels like LNG and moving to low-carbon fuels like methanol, ammonia, and hydrogen. For the activities within the ports, we must first address our energy efficiency, and replace some of the old equipment running on fossil fuels with electrically powered alternatives, as well as adopt renewable energy. We are working closely with our terminal operators to scale up renewables against our current mix. Integrating both interfaces, we are also exploring what is known as “onshore power supply” (OPS) to allow berthed ships to shut down their engines and plug into clean energy supplied onshore within the port.

Do you have a final message for our international audience?

Our ambition is to turn Port Klang into an international distribution hub and be the leading port facility in APAC. Rather than competing with other ports, we want to collaborate. Southeast Asia’s population inches close to 700 million, and both Malaysia and Singapore are in the center of this impressive market. During the pandemic, Port Klang and the Port of Singapore were among the first pledging staying open and letting trade move. Malaysia is interdependent with its water and land neighbors, including Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and the pandemic has shown us we cannot work in silos. We need to give up the old, manual and isolated ways, and embrace more collaborations because trade is globalized.