Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP), a member of MMC Group became the first port in Southeast Asia to welcome Evergreen Marine Corporation’s latest and one of the largest container ships in the world, Ever Ace, as part of its maiden voyage in the Southeast Asia region.
Ever Ace, the first of Evergreen Line’s 24,000-TEU class container ships berthed at PTP on October 10.
The A-type vessel is close to 400 meters in length and 61.5 meters wide, has a design draft of 14.5 meters and can cruise at speeds up to 22.6 knots with a nominal carrying capacity of 23,992 TEUs. The vessel is deployed on its maiden voyage for Evergreen Line’s CEM Service in Asia-Europe trade and was previously berthed at Colombo, Sri Lanka.
PTP Chairman and MMC Group Managing Director, Dato’ Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, said: “The berthing of Ever Ace at PTP reflects strong confidence by vessel operators towards PTP’s ability and commitment in serving the needs of its customers.
“Despite COVID-19 pandemic and various challenges and issues facing by the port industry worldwide which indirectly contributes to the volatility in volume in port throughput, PTP continues to perform commendably by continuing to register organic growth, which subsequently put the port at number 15 amongst world’s top port ranking.”
Meanwhile, PTP Chief Executive Officer Marco Neelsen stated: “PTP will continue to leverage through its strategic positioning as a global regional transhipment hub as well as a competitive edge in its customer segmentation to provide value added quality services for our customers.”
“Over the years, PTP has progressively strengthened its position due to its investments in new equipment and efforts to improve container handling capacity and capability to further empowering our service capacities to meet the market demand and growing requirement by its customers. This is also to ensure the new generation of ultra-large container vessels can safely navigate to our port while at the same time guaranteeing minimal deviation from their sailing schedule,” Neelsen added.
Ever Ace was built by South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries and was officially delivered on July 28. Evergreen Line’s A-type vessels are equipped with various eco-friendly and fuel-efficient designs.
The vessel is scheduled to make the next port of call at Kaohsiung, Taiwan after PTP.
PTP, Malaysia’s largest container terminal, is a leading global ports group with a global port network in 62 countries. The port delivers reliable, efficient and advanced services to major shipping lines and box operators, providing shippers in Malaysia and abroad extensive connectivity to the global market.
Its terminal operations are backed up by state-of-the-art facilities, equipment and information technology systems linked to all port users. To date, the Port is operating with 14 berths totaling 5.04 km in linear wharf design. The port’s container yard is one of the largest container storage facilities in the region with the capacity to handle up to 10.5 million TEU annually.
PTP was accorded Free Zone status in March 1998 and was also appointed as a Free Zone Authority by the Government on 16 June 1999 to administer both the Commercial Free Zone and the Industrial Free Zone. PTP Free Zone provides various advantages to cargo importers and exporters and the direct connection to the port terminal also provides efficient and cost-effective container movement between the Free Zone and the port, creating convenience for the container trade.
