SECOND board-listed Haisan Resources Bhd sees its refrigeration engineering and temperature-controlled logistics (TCL) units as the main drivers for growth and expects to achieve higher revenue growth for the year ahead.
Its managing director Ong Chin Yet said the company is confident of positive growth in revenue from both the refrigeration engineering and TCL divisions.

“Besides concentrating on our TCL operations in Malaysia, China and the Philippines, we are also looking into exporting more of our engineering expertise to these countries. In doing this, we will provide our knowledge and expertise in the refrigeration area to help companies set up their own TCL facilities,” he said at the company’s annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

In the first quarter of 2005, the refrigeration engineering division turned in a revenue of RM7.6 million as compared to the RM3.2 million revenue reported in the same period last year. Meanwhile, the TCL division registered a growth rate of 36.2 per cent (Q12004: RM4.7 million) from the same quarter in 2004 to achieve RM6.4 million in revenue.

“Globalisation initiatives have triggered and intensified product movement across borders. These initiatives, coupled with increasing awareness and demand for fresher and better quality food products, have placed specialised cold-chain logistics providers such as Haisan in the right position to capitalise on the growth of the region’s food industry,” said Ong.

Encouraged by the positive feedback and overwhelming take-up rate of its facilities in Malaysia, the Philippines and China, the group is currently undergoing capacity expansions and upgrades at all its existing facilities.

In China where logistics is one of the prime movers of the economy, Haisan’s operations are expected to grow in tandem with its customers’ production volumes.

The existing Guangzhou TCL facility recently expanded its capacity to 4,700 pallets and this will be further increased to 8,000 pallets by the end of 2005.

Ong believed that China presents a huge market for Haisan and said the company is focused on building and implementing an efficient logistics network in China, in line with its vision of becoming the leading regional cold-chain logistics solutions provider.

With the synergy between its refrigeration engineering and TCL arms, the company has the proven capability to design, customise, construct and operate state-of-the-art TCL facilities for customers all across Asia.

On the homefront, Haisan has acquired a 4-acre piece of land next to its current facility in Port Klang.

The group plans to convert part of the two existing warehouses on this piece of land into a cross-docking and storage facility.