Ruben Emir Gnana­lingam

Ruben Emir Gnana­lingam, son of founder and the CEO of Waterports

G. Gnanalingam, a second-generation Malaysian of Sri Lankan descent, was an unlikely contender to win the bid in 1994 to operate Westport’s, one of two terminals within Port Klang. Ruben Emir Gnana­lingam, his son and the CEO of Westport’s, recalls rival port officials had laughed at his father and said he was crazy to pump in money, while his early backers got cold feet and pulled out.

  “When my father told his investors, ‘I believe in this,’ they said ‘Buy my shares,’ which he did,” the son recalls.

“It’s a good thing they ­didn’t believe in him.”

Today the bustling port, one of 11 major terminals along Malaysia’s long seafront, is the basis of the family wealth, an estimated $360 million that puts the Gnana­lingams at No. 24 on this year’s rich list. A private company with no immediate plans for listing, Westport’s reported revenue of $325 million in 2010 and saw container volume jump 15% year-on-year in 2011.

 “With 95% of all world trade going through ports, my father felt there was a huge opportunity in this market,” Ruben recalls.

Though 2010 was profitable for the Gnana­lingams, the shipping trade generally is hard-pressed again, and the euro zone crisis bears on Port Klang particularly. Westport’s is looking to boost traffic by 9% this year.

Ruben says,

“Consumption throughout Europe is expected to grow slightly, flat at worst, but I do not expect it will be as bad as in 2008--09 where there was a knee-jerk reaction to the global financial crisis. Despite the sovereign debt issues, the Europeans are still buying manufacturing goods and need raw materials. Trade is sometimes different from the debt situation of the country, and how it will get out of debt is through trade.”

The founder of Waterports

The founder, now 67, turned over the CEO reins to the oldest of his three children in 2010. Now chairman, he still comes in frequently and handles government relations. Father and son are said to have different temperaments.

An Eton and London School of Economics graduate, Ruben started at the bottom as a stowage clerk and traffic controller for a few months in 1999, before moving on to planning. He left Westports in 2000 to start a dot-com incubator and then cashed out and returned to Westports in 2005. He counts other new generation entrepreneurs like Air­Asia’s Tony Fernandes as close friends and joined him in a ­minority stake in the Queens Park Rangers club of football’s Premier League last year. He also has a basketball team, the KL Dragons, with sons of other Malaysian tycoons.

Meantime Westport’s is also tendering to operate ports in India. In 2011 it won the rights together with SEW Construction group there to operate a coal terminal in Visakhapatnam feeding power plants in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. This terminal expects to handle 5 million tonnes of coal.

The regional jockeying is unrelenting as intra-Asian trade rises to join that along the Sino-Europe route. Ports in Indonesia could be a challenger to Westport’s if they are developed. There is talk that the Malaysian government is considering a proposal to add another container terminal in Port Klang, rivalling Westport’s.

T.S. Cheok, vice president of Selangor (state) Freight Forwarders & Logistics Association and a director of one such company, offers that, “Compared to other ports in Malaysia, Westport’s is progressive, proactive and customer-centric. Ruben is very willing to listen.”

The Gnanalingams also are quick to credit their 4,000 employees. Ruben says, “Anyone with the finances can buy equipment and build the wharf, but it is not easy to buy people and culture. We motivate people, plan well and automate processes to make it easier for our people to work. We try to keep our word and create a friendly and flexible culture. My father would say Taj Mahal was not built by Shah Jahan, it was built by the workers.”