MALAYSIA's Port Klang regulators have mis-stated throughput statistics by defining repositioning and re-stowing containers as "transhipments", thus inflating the numbers, the port authority's former general manager M Rajasingam told a recent shipping conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Allegations of misreporting port statistics was supported by Hans Peters, the former head of transport infrastructure at the World Bank, who admitted there was always ambiguity when computing statistics, particularly the growth in transshipment containers.

Said Mr Rajasingam: "Just look at how transshipment containers at Port Klang are counted and the growth gets reported and you would get the feel that something is not quite right."

Mr Rajasingam told the seminar on port privatisation as reported in the Malaysian Business Times that regulatory bodies' inability was leading to a poor use of resources, ill-thought-out port development, and the lack of a co-ordinated approach for the nation's private ports.

"The fact that these port regulators have not been able to come up with accepted industry benchmarks and standards to rate the performance of the terminal operators is a poor reflection on their ability to exercise responsibility," he said