KUALA LUMPUR: Japan’s Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding has received an order for 29 cranes for Malaysia’s Port Klang, the largest order the company’s crane business has ever won.
The order is for 14 cranes to unload containers from ships and 15 cranes to transport containers within the port. Some will have automated engine controls that help reduce fuel consumption by more than 30% from earlier models. They will be made at Mitsui Engineering’s Oita Works and are slated for delivery by the end of 2016.
The roughly 15 billion yen ($126 million) order was placed by Westports Malaysia, which operates a container terminal at Port Klang. On the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, the port is Malaysia’s busiest container port and is considered the No. 2 hub port in Southeast Asia after Singapore.
The anticipated increase in container traffic accompanying the economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region at the end of 2015 has Port Klang and many other ports making expansion plans. Backed by such robust demand, Mitsui Engineering is spending 7 billion yen to boost capacity at Oita Works by 70%. It aims to increase its global market share to 20% in fiscal 2017 from just over 10% in fiscal 2013.
