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The proposed KCT-KPM merger will create a powerful new entity in Port Klang.
KELANG Container Terminal Bhd (KCT), Malaysia's largest container terminal operator, is setting its sights on bigger things.
KCT will emerge as a stronger force to be reckoned with once plans for its merger with Kelang Port Management Sdn Bhd (KPM) become a reality. And a deal could be sealed sooner than expected since both KCT and KPM have a common major shareholder in Kontena Nasional Bhd.
The merger will create a powerful new entity with KCT's 50 per cent market share of the container terminal business and KPM's 20 per cent market share. KCT will also be involved in a wider range of businesses. Currently, KCT confines its activities to container terminal services while KPM's businesses include non-container activities. The merger will also give the remaining player in Port Klang, Kelang Multi Terminal Sdn Bhd - the operator of Westport - a run for its money.
KCT managing director and chief executive officer Abdul Samad Mohamed is coy about the merger. `The facilities operated by KCT and KPM in the North Port at one point in time formed part of a single port organisation. In the particular area of container terminal services, both entities are offering port customers a similar range of facilities and employ manpower trained in a similar range of skills,' he says.
`In terms of servicing their respective clientele, each company is an alternative to the other. There have also been opportunities and the need to work together in a complementary manner, offering assistance to the other as and when operational needs dictate.
`Feedback indicates that customers of both companies share the same view of perceived advantages that can emanate from a full-scale merger. The seamless operational environment in a merger situation offers opportunity for further smoothening of the interface which, under the present arrangement for operational collaboration, may still have hiccups to overcome,' he adds.
KCT operates four container berths - numbers 8, 9, 10 and 11 - within the same linear configuration of the berth-line for KPM, which operates berths 12 to 25. Berths 16 to 21 are designed for container operations.
KPM's shareholders are Kontena Nasional (52.5 per cent), Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (25 per...