2019 | Quarter 3

corporatecomm@mmc.com.my

Port of Tanjung Pelepas Welcomes

World’s Latest and Largest Container Vessel - MSC Gulsun and  Breaks World Record for Vessel Utilisation

Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), a member of MMC Group, becomes the first port in Southeast Asia to welcome Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) latest and largest container vessel aptly named MSC Gulsun as part of its maiden voyage in the South East Asia region.

Another major milestone was also transpired from the historic calling of MSC Gulsun when PTP became the first port in the world to hit back to back record for highest utilisation of a container vessel when the vessel left the port with the record load of 19,574 twenty-foot-equivalents (TEUs), surpassing previous record load of 19,284 TEUs achieved by Maersk Monaco set by PTP in June this year.

The maiden voyage of MSC Gulsun to PTP was commemorated at a special event held on the same date and attended by representatives from both PTP, MSC, customers and government agencies. Amongst the notable dignitaries attended the event include YB Mohd Solihan Bin Badri, Chairman of Johor State Public Works, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee; Dato’ Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, Chairman of PTP/Group Managing Director of MMC Corporation Berhad; Jeremy David Daniel Franc, Deputy Managing Director of MSC Malaysia; Kelvin Tan, General Manager Operation of MSC Regional; Ian James, Group Chief Executive Officer of MMC Ports Holdings Sdn Bhd; Marco Neelsen, Chief Executive Officer of PTP; members of government agencies and several selected Senior Management Team of PTP and MSC Malaysia.

With 23,756 TEUs capacity, the 400m-long containership is 61.5m wide. MSC Gulsun is on its maiden voyage for the Asia – Europe (SILK) service loop of the 2M alliance network. The vessel, which was previously berthed at Yantian, China is scheduled to make the next port of call at Port of Algeciras, Spain.  

The berthing of MSC Gulsun at PTP is a testament of PTP’s capacity and capability to accommodate mega size vessels and is in line with PTP’s aspiration to become an advanced preferred port in the region.  

As of May 2019, PTP recorded the highest ever monthly volume in history with throughput of 818,606 TEUs.  It is commendable to note that that PTP’s higher efficiency and cargo handling clearly described its capability and ability to meet the customers’ changing demand. This obviously led to greater customer confidence in PTP’s capability and service excellence.