KUALA LUMPUR: Bintulu Port Holdings Bhd achieved a total cargo throughput of 47.61 million tonnes of cargo in 2020, despite the challenges faced from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The port operator said this was equivalent to a 5.04 per cent conttraction, way better than its earlier forecast of 7.0 per cent contraction.
Group chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Medan Abdullah said Bintulu Port had performed resiliently and stayed the course in executing its strategies even as the pandemic disrupted economies, global supply chains and its core businesses.
Mohammad Medan said it had introduced 10 strategies under its business response plan (BRP) to mitigate the impact of Covid-19, assigning its customers and enhance resiliency while enabling them to continue building a more resilient business for future growth.
"While it was challenging, the BRP effectively enabled the group to stay open and to pursue all the business initiatives set in motion.
"For 2021, the group expected better cargo and container throughput performance compared to year 2020 which will be driven by the recovery in import and export activities," he said in a statement today.
Bintulu Port's operating revenue eased 1.27 per cent to RM707.31 million last year.
The revenue contribution mainly came from Malaysia and Brunei, amounting to RM674.07 million and RM33.24 million respectively.
Revenue from liquefied natural gads (LNG), which accounted for 51 per cent of the total operating revenue, is still the main revenue contributor.
Revenue from port services at Bintulu Port dropped 6.56 per cent to RM516.58 million from RM552.88 million in 2019.
A new business venture undertaken by Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd (BPSB) had secured a contract to provide pilotage and towage services in Brunei.
This added additional operating revenue of RM33.24 million, bringing BPSB's total revenue from port services to RM549.82 million in 2020.
Revenue from port services at Samalaju Industrial Port dipped 2.46 per cent to RM111.08 million against RM113.88 million previously, while revenue from bulking facilities stood at RM46.42 million, down 6.52 per cent from the RM49.66 million recorded in 2019.
The company's operating profit was lower by RM48.09 million, from RM230.73 million to RM182.64 million.
This was contributed by the lower earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) and higher depreciation on rights-of-use assets under MFRS 16: Leases for the new charter hire of vessels for the operations at the Brunei branch and Bintulu Port main office.
The Ebitda was lower by RM26.96 million year-on-year, mainly due to the lower operating revenue and higher operating expenditure.
Bintulu Port said the unprecedented Covid-19, which caused disruptions in all supply chains in the logistics industry, had contributed to the lower operating revenue in the first half of 2020.
Its pre-tax profit decreased 29.25 per cent to RM126.67 million.
BPSB handled significantly larger vessels to serve 80 vessels of more than 80,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) in 2020, as demonstrated by the largest LNG vessel that has ever berthed at the port, the Vasant 1, with DWT of 97,200.
BPSB also achieved operational readiness for handling LNG ISO tanks in September 2020 with the completion of interim facilities and the establishment of the procedures related to the operations.
The port handled the company's first major import and export shipments of LNG ISO tanks in Q1 of 2021.
This was a significant milestone as BPSB was the first port in Asia to export LNG in this form on such a large scale.