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Bintulu Port Holdings Berhad, owner
and operator of Bintulu Port in
Sarawak, reported another positive
year of growth in its cargo
handling.
The port handled 25.59 million
tonnes of cargo in 2002.
The chairman of the company, Datuk
Mohamed Adnan bin Ali said the
throughput consisted mainly of
liquefied natural gas and petroleum
products.
Liquid bulk cargoes made up 20.28
million tonnes with the rest shared
by dry bulk cargoes,1.82 million
tonnes and break bulk cargoes, 3.49
million tonnes.
Liquid bulk cargo comprises LNG,
LPG, crude oil, petroleum products,
SMDS, palm oil, ammonia and
chemical. Of these, LNG contributed
59 per cent (15.21million tonnes),
crude oil 11.15 per cent (2.85
million tonnes).
Petroleum products 2.19 per cent
(0.56 million tonnes), palm oil 2.91
per cent (0.75 million tonnes),SMDS
1.53 per cent (0.39 million tonnes),
LPG 1.5 per cent (0.38 million
tonnes), ammonia 0.25 per cent (0.63
million tonnes)and chemical 0.26 per
cent (0.67 million tonnes).
The dry bulk consist of urea, silica
sand, bulk fertilizer, soda ash,
palm kernel expeller, sodium
silicate and gypsum while sawn
timber, veneer, plywood, fibre
board, bagged cement, bagged
fertilizer and containerised cargo
make up the break bulk cargoes.
The port received 5,019 ship calls
in 2002.The top contributors to
vessel calls are liquid bulk vessels
(1,500), general cargo vessels
(1,870), followed by dry bulk
vessels (776)and other vessels
(873).
Containers handled by the registered
an increase of 57.4 per cent from
66,139 TEUs in the year 2001 to
104,081 TEUs containers in the year
2002.
Despite the increase in handling of
cargo, Adnan noted the overall
operational income for the financial
year ending 31 December 2002
declined marginally by 2.22 per cent
to RM273.33 million.
Total expenditure increased by
RM10.42 million (5.95 per cent) to
RM185.25 million in 2002.
Profit before taxation was lower by
RM14.56 million from RM117.98
million in the year 2001 to RM103.42
million in the year 2002.
Meanwhile, the outlook for the port
remains good.
Liquid bulk cargo traffic,
particularly LNG, is expected to
continue to dominate traffic pattern
at the multi-purpose deep water
port.
The optimism comes in the wake of a
recent agreement concluded between
Malaysia LNG with Tokyo Electric
Power Company Inc. and Tokyo Gas
Company Ltd. to supply 7.4 million
tonnes of liquefied natural gas per
annum for an additional period of
fifteen (15)years beginning 2003.
The export of liquefied natural gas
from MLNG Tiga plant in the same
year will further increase the total
cargo handled at Bintulu Port.
MLNG, MLNG Dua and MLNG Tiga upon
full operation will have a
production capacity of 23 million
tonnes per annum.
On the container handling front, the
port has forecast to handle 128,000
TEUs and 159,000 TEUs for the year
2003 and 2004 respectively.
The substantial growth of containers
handled resulted from the continuous
marketing effort in developing
containers sector and positioning
Bintulu Port as a containers hub in
BIMP-EAGA region.
A number of new shipping routes have
established during the year.
The routes include Bintulu-Hong
Kong-Shanghai-Hong Kong-Muara-Bintulu;
Bintulu-Sibu-Kuching-Pontianak-Bintulu;and
Bintulu-Kota
Kinabalu-Sandakan-Tawau-Bintulu-Port
Klang. |
