Penang Port industry also impacted by COVID-19

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang port industry is also impacted by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic since early this year following a drop in container handling operation.

State Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said container handing was expected to record a 6.6 per cent drop (this year) compared to last year.

He said only 1,040,098 units of containers equivalent to 20 feet (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) would be handled this year compared to 1,113,618 TEU last year.

‘’The Penang port industry is adversely impacted by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic whereby, other than the handling of containers, the handling of conventional cargo is expected to shrink by 17.2 per cent compared to last year,’’ he said when answering a question of Dr Afif Bahardin (Bersatu-Seberang Jaya) at the State Assembly, here, today.

He said Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) handled 7,167,415 tonnes (Freight Weight Tonnes) last year and is only expected to handle 5,934,435 FWT this year.

In addition, Zairil said the cruise industry operation at the Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal was expected to record a 70.6 per cent drop in handling compared to last year.

‘’PPSB is expected to handle only 212,627 passengers this year compared to 733,789 passengers last year,’’ he said.

Prior to this, the Malaysian cruise tourism sector was the third-highest in Asia whereby the George Town harbour was recorded as the first choice of tourists last year.

As of yesterday, there were 636 COVID-19 positive cases in Penang with two main clusters, namely, at the Penang Remand Prison and Seberang Perai Prison.

Both prisons were the third and fourth in the country infected with COVID-19 after Tawau in Sabah and Alor Setar in Kedah.

To date, the Remand Prison Cluster recorded 160 new active cases yesterday bringing the total number of COVID-19 positive cases to 377 with one death, while the Jawi Prison Cluster recorded 54 cases.

-- BERNAMA