KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Westports Holdings Bhd recorded a higher net profit of RM654.49 million in the financial year ended December 31, 2020 (FY20), compared with RM590.89 million chalked up in the previous year.

Revenue rose to RM1.97 billion during the year under review from RM1.78 previously, the cargo company said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

The higher revenue were from the container segment and construction activities involving development work on a new liquid bulk jetty and new Container Yard Zone Z at Container Terminal 9 in Hong Kong.

Westports said it handled a slightly lower container throughput of 10.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2020 as the transshipment volume was affected by the various forms of lockdown across the world to control the transmission of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Group managing director Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said in the fourth quarter alone, container throughput was at 2.8 million TEUs.

"The above-average container yard utilisation and yard congestion in the fourth quarter of 2020 not only affected Westports but also many ports across the globe.

"The global supply chain is adjusting to a combination of factors, such as higher consumer demand for containerised goods in Western economies, lockdowns in various parts of the world at different points in time, and a global supply chain partly manned by people implementing Covid-19 precautionary measures,” he said.

He said the direct and secondary long-tail effect of Covid-19 is expected to be felt in 2021 despite the gradual ramp-up in vaccinations. — Bernama