In a statement today, the port operator said the achievement surpassed the previous record of 310,865 TEUs set in December 2020.

For the first five months of this year, Northport handled a total of 1,390,916 TEUs of containers, marking an increase of 11.1% against the same period last year.

Northport said the Red Sea geopolitical crisis had severely impacted international trade, resulting in several vessel diversions from major regional ports.

“Since January this year, Northport has received more than 80 ad-hoc calls primarily due to this global crisis,” said Northport, a member of MMC Group.

CEO Azman Shah Yusof said the higher container volume, driven by its aggressive marketing efforts and the higher productivity from improved infrastructure, resulted in a record-breaking performance for the company last month.

“This achievement reflects our capability to provide efficient service, maintain consistently high productivity, and ensure berth on arrival for the growing number of vessel calls,” he said.

Apart from the higher number of vessel calls, Azman said the record-breaking container throughput registered in May was also driven by the two new vessel services and the improved volume from existing services at Northport during the month.

“The achievement was further bolstered by the completion of the new state-of-the-art container yard infrastructure, Block J, in 2023, which played a crucial role in ensuring the efficient performance of Northport’s terminal operations, ” he said.