Port Klang sees tremendous growth under BN

Think Klang town, and most people, especially those living in the Klang Valley, will say it has been the site of human settlement since prehistoric times.

Of course, the royal town is famous for its origin of 'bah kut teh' (pork rib soup) and fresh fish whose cost is relatively lower, when compared to its neighbouring towns, such as Kapar.

The town, once the capital of Selangor, has more than meets the eye. To begin with, Malaysia's busiest port, Port Klang, is located in Klang.

Port Klang is Malaysia's principal port, national load centre and trading gateway which was placed top 11th port globally in the year 2002. Since then, it has maintained its high position.

Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for Klang parliamentary seat, Datuk Teh Kim Poo, who is Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairman, has been instrumental towards the development of the port since his appointment as chairman in April 2011.

Under his leadership, the port moved up in ranking from 13th spot in 2011 to 12th in the World Container Port League for 2012. This year, he is hoping to further improve the port's standing in world ranking to 11th or 10th spot.

Teh said both private terminal operators - Northport and Westport - had contributed to the significant growth of Port Klang all this while where the port succeeded in handling its 100th million 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container this year.

"With this achievement, Port Klang will continue to maintain a competitive edge by improving and providing additional port facilities and services to meet growing market demand," he said, adding that PKA would celebrate its 50th anniversary in July.

Teh, 61, said the BN government gave many grants to deepen Port Klang, besides grants for two port terminals to carry out their expansion plans, besides helping the port to improve infrastructure leading to the port," he said.

Port Klang, which comes under the Klang Parliamentary constituency, began handling containers in the early 1970s, and August 1973 marked the arrival of Tokyo Bay, the first large container vessel, with the port recording a thoroughput of 11,383 TEUs for that year.