KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 ― A RM140 billion project to build a port in Carey Island in Klang, Selangor has now been deferred, owing to less demand at Port Klang as shipping operators switch to Singapore, a report said.

The planned Carey Island port under MMC Corp owned by businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary would have been the third port in Klang.

"With the government giving Klang rival Westports approval to double its capacity, the push for a third port in Klang is on the backburner,” a source familiar with the Carey Island project was quoted saying by Singapore daily The Straits Times (ST).

There are two other ports in Klang: Westports which takes up 75 per cent of the business there and MMC's own Northport.

ST said MMC did not reply and provide comments, but noted that the company's managing director Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh had in May indicated that work on the Carey Island project is expected to start in 2020.

"MMC is still presenting proposals on a third port in Klang but the government seems happy with the Westport expansion for now,” ST quoted another unnamed industry source as saying.

According to the newspaper, both MMC's Northport and Westports have according to industry officials been "competing on discounts due to the exit of customers” and suffered double digit drops in cargo in the third quarter this year, as new shipping alliances started switching to PSA Singapore since April.

Last month, MIDF Research said MMC may push back its plan for the Carey Island ports, as Westports had recently received an approval-in-principal for its concession period to be extended.

"We gather that the overall investment required for the Carey Island port project to be large and spread over a 20-year timeframe. MMC Ports remains keen to participate in the Carey Island project, but maintained that further clarity would only be available further down the line, perhaps in 2019,” the research house had said.

In April, Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama reported that the MMC Port Holdings and India's Adani Ports and the Special Economic Zone Limited of India are to develop the US$9.39 billion (RM39.1 billion).Carey Island port project.

A US$22.78 billion integrated maritime city under the Carey Island project was also expected to be developed through a joint venture between MMC Port Holdings and Sime Darby Property Bhd with India's Adani Ports.