International Cargo Seaport: Port of Tanjung Pelepas

Malaysia is divided into two parts, which is one in the northern part of the island of Borneo, and the other in the Malay Peninsula. The one in Borneo is mainly dominated by a vast rainforest, but the one in the Malay Peninsula is passed by major shipping lanes. There are two large seaports operating, one of which is the Port of Tanjung Pelepas.

About Port of Tanjung Pelepas

The Port of Tanjung Pelepas is located near the border of the Strait of Malacca, separating the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and the Strait of Johor, which separates two countries, Malaysia and Singapore.

To be more specific, the port sits on the eastern mouth of the Pulai River in Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The location is very strategic, which is just about 45 minutes from the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The port was purposely built in that location to challenge the dominating Port of Singapore.

The History

The Port of Tanjung Pelepas is one of the newest large container ports in the world, but it had accomplished world records for a fast-growing port as soon as it started to operate in 1999. The port has also revolutionized Southeast Asia’s shipping profile.

Being located near the Port of Singapore but promising to have fewer delays compared to that super busy port from the neighboring country, Malaysia’s port has gained the trust of the world’s largest shipping companies.

At first, the largest shipping company in the world, Maersk, moved to a newer Tanjung Pelepas from Singapore for its shipping operations in Asia. Then, in 2002, the Evergreen Marine Corporation, which is the world’s second-largest shipping company, followed Maersk’s path for its own shipping operations in that continent.

Soon after that, other big shipping companies like K-Line, Safmarine, and Mediterranean Shipping Company followed suit and started their shipping operations in the Southern Malaysian port.

The fast growth of the port can be seen from its early increase in numbers of cargo transaction volume. In the first year of the port’s operation, it had just about 20 thousand TEUs, but just about two years later, the number had multiplied up to two million TEUs. Then, the growth did not stop, and the port had six million TEUs in 2009.

Volume of Transaction in Port of Tanjung Pelepas

With a cargo transaction volume of 9.8 twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs, the Port of Tanjung Pelepas was the second biggest seaport in Malaysia in 2020. It was also ranked as the third busiest seaport in Southeast Asia, trailing only the Port of Singapore and Malaysia’s biggest port, the Port Klang.

The cargo transaction volume of that port has increased steadily from 2017 until 2020. The port has been consistently ranked in the top twenty busiest ports in the entire world based on those numbers of cargo transaction volumes.

Interesting Facts

The Port of Tanjung Pelepas is a new player in the game of container ports. However, the port was able to compete with a titan of a port like the Port of Singapore. It even became one of the world’s busiest ports in less than 20 years.