Penang port industry sees 70pc drop in cruise operations, says exco
GEORGE TOWN, Oct 19 — The port industry in Penang has been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic with a sharp drop in cargo handling and cruises compared to 2019.
State exco Zairil Khir Johari (DAP — Tanjung Bungah) told the state legislative assembly that cruise operations at the Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal are expected to drop by 70.6 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019.
“In 2019, there were 733,789 cruise passengers recorded but the Penang Port Sdn Bhd is expected to receive only 212,627 passengers for 2020,” he said in reply to a question on the performance of the port industry by Dr Afif Bahardin (Bersatu — Seberang Jaya).
He said PPSB is also expecting a drop of 17.2 per cent for conventional cargo handling in 2020 compared to 2019.
“The cargo handling in 2019 was 7,167,415 freight weight tonnes (FWT) and PPSB expects to handle conventional cargo of about 5,934,435 FWT in 2020,” he said.
He said container handling is also expected to record a drop of 6.6 per cent this year compared to 2020.
“Container handling is expected to drop from 1,113,618 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) in 2019 to 1,040,098 TEU in 2020,” he said.
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