THE Malacca Straits hit an all time high of 84,456 transits in 2017 in the wake of maritime traffic growing consistently since 2011, according to the figures from authorities in Malaysia.

'In the last three years daily transit reports to Klang VTS increased from 222 vessels per day in 2015 to 231 vessels per day in 2017 despite challenging shipping market conditions,' a report by Singapore-based Nippon Maritime Centre (NMC). This equates to 10 vessels entering or leaving the straits every hour.

Containerships accounted for 33 per cent of traffic, however, they registered a slight dip in transits at 24,446 vessels last year compared to 25,786 in 2016.

The average number of box ships transiting the strait daily remains at 70 with lines now deploying ships of up to 18,000 to 22,000 TEU on the Asia to Europe trade. 'Container ports in the straits have been handling increasing number of containers in recent years,' the report noted.

Mega box ship traffic in the strait has doubled over the last decade to 6,711 transits last year compared to 3,753 in 2007, equating to 20 VLCCs a day. Over the last five years VLCC traffic has increased 7.8 per cent annually.

Bulk carrier traffic in the strait dropped in 2017 to 15,411 transits from 15,547 the previous year. 'For the most part since year 2011, bulk carrier transit reports have been growing steadily at six per cent, reflecting East Asia's import of raw materials such as iron ore and coal,' the report noted.

LNG and LPG vessel traffic saw a slight increase in transits to 4,137 compared to 4,057 in 2016.

'There has been a slow growth in LNG/LPG vessels using the Straits, with 1.7 per cent increase in the last three years, and these would mainly be vessels using the route from Middle East to East Asia,' NMC said.

Ro-ro traffic decreased to 2,629 transits of the straits last year compared to 2,873 vessels in 2016.