Westports Holdings Bhd’s net profit for the second quarter ended June 30 rose to RM122.5mil from RM119.6mil a year ago buoyed by an increase in container throughput at its terminal located in Pulau Indah, Port Klang.

Year-on-year (y-o-y), the container volume at Westports increased by 14% from 1.83 million to 2.09 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The jump in net profit was supported by higher revenue for the quarter under review at RM409mil compared to RM401.2mil in 2013.

For the half-year period, a robust container segment, the termination of a management service agreement and a lower effective tax rate were the factors that supported the growth of its net profit that soared to RM231.5mil against RM198.4mil in the corresponding period of last year.

Revenue for the six-month period also showed significant improvement to RM772.2mil from RM750.1mil in 2013.

Total container throughput registered exceptionally strong growth in the first half of the year by 12.9% y-o-y to 4.02 million TEUs, led by transhipment boxes, which rose 13.9% y-o-y, and gateway, which expanded by 10.5% y-o-y.

The exceptionally strong growth in container throughput was driven by positive growth from all major trade lanes.

Intra-Asia, the largest contributor to Westports’ total container throughput, grew at a faster-than-expected pace of 12.9% in the first half of this year.

Based on the stellar performance, Westports has proposed a first interim dividend of 5.1 sen per share for this financial year.

Westports chief executive officer Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said, “We are delighted with the strong financial performance in the first half of this year.

“The capacity expansion of Container Terminal 7 is well-positioned to capitalise on the rising container throughput, as we expect the strong momentum to persist for the remainder of the year.

“The prospects for 2014 remain encouraging, supported by continuous growth from the global and domestic economies,” he said in a statement yesterday.

During the quarter, in a somewhat unexpected development, China’s Ministry of Commerce blocked the proposed formation of the P3 Alliance.

The members of the proposed alliance, namely, CMA CGM, Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co, have accepted the decision and called off the alliance.

While Westports had indicated earlier that the proposed P3 Alliance would have minimal implications on its throughput, the cessation of the proposed alliance has removed the uncertainties of any potential negative impact on its volume.

Westports, on June 27, had received the official approval from the Port Klang Authority pursuant to the second supplemental privatisation agreement dated Jan 15, 2010 for the extension of the port concession period for an additional 30 years from Sept 1, 2024 to Aug 31, 2054.

In a separate development, Westports yet again set a new world record for container terminal productivity on June 12, notching an impressive 793 moves per hour.

The feat was achieved while working on China Shipping Container Lines Co Ltd’s container vessel, CSCL Le Havre (a 9,572-TEU vessel). Westports was the previous record holder with 734 moves per hour in 2011.

Source: The Star