Mr. Lee Chong Kwee became the new Chairman of Jurong Port’s Board of Directors earlier this month. Mr. Lee, Corporate Advisor to Temasek Holdings, was with Singapore Airlines for over 10 years; and thereafter with MSAS Global Logistics where he held a number of senior management positions. He was CEO, Asia Pacific of Exel Singapore Pte, Ltd. for six years, and Group CEO of Pontiac Land in 2008. He currently sits on the Boards of Mapletree Investments Private Ltd, Singapore Post Ltd, Great Wall Cargo Airlines (China) and First Flight Couriers Pvt, Ltd. (India).

At the same time, Jurong Port extends appreciation to its former Chairman of the Board Mr. Barry Desker, who is currently the Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, for his invaluable contributions during his tenure since the Port’s corporatization in January 2001.

The Port also welcomed two new Directors recently appointed to the Board. They are Mrs. Cheong Koon Hean, Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), and Mr. Lionel Yeo Hung Tong, Dean & Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Service College/Deputy Secretary (Development), Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s Office.

Mrs. Cheong was a Colombo Plan scholar and has been with URA for more than 25 years. In addition, she sits on the Boards of the National Heritage Board, Urban Land Institute and JTC Corporation.

Mr. Yeo was an Overseas Merit scholar, had earlier served as a Director (Trade Division) at the Ministry of Trade & Industry, and as a Director (Taxation Policies) at the Ministry of Finance.

With the new appointments, Jurong Port has 9 Directors on its Board. The other six Directors are:

  1. Ow Foong Pheng, Chief Executive Officer, JTC Corporation
  2. Lim How Teck, Executive Chairman, Redwood International Pte, Ltd.
  3. Goon Kok Loon, Chairman, Global Maritime & Port Services Pte, Ltd.
  4. Stephen Pan, Chairman, World-Wide Shipping Agency, Limited
  5. Heng Chiang Meng, Principal, Spear Consultancy Pte, Ltd
  6. Matthew Chan, Chief Executive Officer, Jurong Port Pte, Ltd.

POSITIVE GROWTH FOR 2008
Jurong Port registered positive cargo volume growth for 2008.

Its container throughput rose 16.9 per cent from 832,000 TEUS in 2007 to 973,000 TEUS in 2008; whilst its general and bulk cargo volumes recorded a 9.9 per cent increase from 13.1 million tons in 2007 to 14.4 million tons in 2008.

WWL’S FIRST VESSEL CALL
Jurong Port recently welcomed the M/V Taronga AF901, the first vessel call from Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL). The occasion was marked with a plaque presentation by Jurong Port’s CEO Mr. Matthew Chan to the vessel’s Master Captain Svendsen on board the vessel. While at the port, the vessel loaded and discharged a variety of cargo such as excavators, machinery, tractors and rubber shipments. WWL is a leading provider of global factory-to-dealer transport solutions for the automotive, agricultural and construction equipment industries. WWL also specializes in handling project cargoes like rail cars, power generators, mining equipment and yachts.

WWL recently phased in their operations at Jurong Port from Pasir Panjang Wharves (PPW). The remaining customers at PPW will relocate to Jurong Port by October 2009.

INFRASTRUCTURE & FACILITY UPGRADES
Jurong Port has put into operation a new 12-lane Main Gate at Jurong Port Road, and is into its last stage of infrastructure and facility upgrade in preparation for the final phase of conventional cargo relocation from Pasir Panjang Wharves (PPW).

The new Main Gate, which has six in-lanes and six out-lanes, replaces the former gate that had only two in and two out-lanes. The new Main Gate started operations in December 2008 and is operational round-the-clock for all vehicles carrying general and bulk cargo. Vehicles carrying containers will continue to use its existing West Gate at Jurong Pier Way.

In addition, a Pass/Permits Office with ample parking lots has been