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Bintulu Port, in anticipation of an
expansion in demand for its
facilities and services, is
developing a second harbour basin
that will pave the way for the
construction of additional berths.
Bintulu Port Authority, the Federal
regulatory agency, has officially
handed over the second access
channel that leads to the second
basin to Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd, the
concessionaire operator of the port.
Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd (BPSB) which
held its seventh annual general
meeting last week in Kuching said it
was looking into the developing of
another one km general cargo berth
at the new basin.
The general cargo wharf would be
fully equipped with warehouses,
transit shed, storage godowns,
closed and open yard and other
necessary port facilities.
The port operating company said when
the new facility is completed at the
inner harbour basin the entire
general cargo operations at the
harbour would be shifted to the new
general cargo wharf.
Currently the port owns a 515-metre
general cargo berth with 10.5 metre
depth and capable of handling
vessels up to 25,000 displacement
tones.
With the completion of new general
cargo berth, the present general
cargo wharf will give way for
container operations expansion.
Currently the port operates a
450-metres container terminal which
capable of handling vessels with
55,000 displacement tones without
any problem.
The expansion will raise the length
of the container berths to more than
one kilometer and help position the
port as a hub port in the BIMP-EAGA
region.
The port has won three more new
shipping services since the Bintulu
International Container Terminal was
opened last year.
The new shipping services at the
port had resulted in an increase in
the port's container throughput from
66,139 TEUS in 2001 to 104,081 TEUS
in 2002, recording 57.4 per cent
increase.
Transhipment container recorded 90
per cent from 36,034 TEUS in 2001 to
68,476 TEUS in 2002 respectively.
Bintulu Port is expected to handle
about 128,000 TEUs container in 2003
and 159,000 TEUS container in 2004
respectively.
Overall Bintulu Port handled 25.9
million tonnes of cargoes in 2002
compared with 25.21 million tonnes
in year 2001.
Of the total, liquid bulk cargo
constituted 20.28 million tones,
comprising largely export of LNG.
Liquid bulk cargo throughput is also
expected to increase with the
commissioning of the LNG jetty-3
especially for the MLNG Tiga.
It is estimated MLNG-3 will generate
about 23 million tones of LNG cargo
for the port. |
