KUALA LUMPUR: Johor Port Bhd (JPB), a unit of MMC Group, entered into a soft commodity strategic alliance agreement (SCSA) with global logistics company Access World earlier today at Johor Port in Pasir Gudang, Johor Bahru.
Under the strategic alliance, Johor Port and Access World will co-operate and combine resources with a view to increase the volume of soft commodities entering and being traded in Johor.
"As a regional commodity hub, everything from cocoa, coffee, palm oil, coal, steel and aluminium - and most things in between - have been catered for via the port’s flexible facilities.
"This strategic alliance is part of our initiatives to position Johor Port as the cocoa commodity/trading hub and for Johor Port to be designated as an approved delivery point under the various International Commodity Exchanges," Johor Port chief executive officer Shahrull Allam Shah Abdul Halim said, in a statement.
The agreement was signed by Shahrull and Access World regional general manager, South East Asia Yanto Tan and witnessed by Transport minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Johor Port chairman and group managing director of MMC Corporation Bhd Dato’ Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, Access World director commercial, Asia Pacific Alfred Vermeulen.
Besides cementing Johor Port’s position as one of the top London Metal Exchange (LME) operators, soft commodities are another big pillar, especially for South East Asia; and it speaks volumes about the existing strengths and future potential of Malaysia from a market demand perspective.
Johor Port will tap into rising demand for safe, efficient, and internationally compliant soft commodities warehousing.
Customers can also look forward to the convenience of one-stop value-add services such as repacking, enabling them to maximise and localise their supply chain to serve regional markets via the Southern region.
"Johor Port understood our concept and value propositions. The ease of doing business that we as Access World Group have experienced here from an investor's and customer’s point of view has resulted in a long lasting 15 years working relationship with Johor Port.
"Dating back to 2004, when we listed a LME approved warehouse in Johor Port, Access World has further diversified its commodities business in Johor Port where we now also provide specialized warehousing and logistics services for soft commodities products like cocoa-beans to service our global clients. We look forward to more years of working together," Yanto Tan said.
Access World is a global company with businesses in the logistics, forwarding and chartering, collateral management, stevedoring, handling and warehousing business of commodities including cocoa, soft commodities, forest products, oil and gas, non-ferrous metals, steel, ferro alloys and project cargo traded on the physical market and/or the LME and/or other exchanges.
Johor Port is a business-ready multi-purpose port facility and continues to be the Premier Southern Gateway Multi-Purpose Port in Malaysia.