|
The
steps taken by Kuantan Port
Consortium Sdn Bhd, the concession
holder of Kuantan Port, to ensure
the completion port expansion
programme on schedule has shown its
commitment to promote the premier
port on the eastern seaboard of
Peninsular Malaysia.
Work
on the excavation work of the inner
harbour basin is in fact three
months ahead of schedule and this
will pave the way for the
construction of new berths to cope
with the anticipated increase in
demand for Kuantan Port’s
facilities and services.
The
newly completed 80 hectares inner
harbour basin, adjacent to the
present harbour basin, will offer
the capacity to develop 4 kilometers
of quay line to accommodate 11 new
berths.
With
the additional new berths the
capacity of Kuantan Port will be
increased from nine million tones
per annum to 20 million tonnes of
cargo per annum.
During
a visit to Kuantan Port last week
the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri
Dr Ling Liong Sik noted that Kuantan
Port was no longer a feeder port.
The
substantial improvement in cargo and
ship handling capacity has
positioned Kuantan Port to become as
one of the major ports in the Asia
Pacific region, he said.
“Kuantan
Port will become the transshiment
hub for ports in Sabah, Sarawak and
the regional port. It is worth
noting that Kuantan Port is the only
container handling facility in the
Eastern Corridor which has been
designated as the petrochemical hub
by the federal government,” said
Dr Ling.
The
Minister commended the principal
stake-holders of KPC, Road Builders
Bhd, a public-listed company with 55
per cent share in KPC for its
commitment to develop a
supply-driven facilities at the
port, especially to cater for the
increasing volume of chemical
products that emanate from the giant
petrochemical plants located at the
Gebeng Industrial Estate.
KPC,
which completed the liquid chemical
berth-2 (LCB-2) in 1998, has started
work on LCB-3.
Almost
50 per cent of the construction work
on the chemical berth has been
completed and is expected fully
ready for commercial operation by
first quarter of next year for BASF-Petronas
usage.
KPC
has also identified the requirement
for container handling capacity at
the Port which will be served by a
new 350-metre container berth.
The
container terminal which capable of
handling 300,000 TEUs per annum is
scheduled to be ready for commercial
operations by the second quarter of
2002.
An
area of about 40 hectares has been
reserved for a container yard which
will be developed in stages to
handle the container throughput.
As
at 31 October 2001, KPC has handled
a total of 63,437 TEUs and is
anticipated to record 71,000 TEUs by
ends of this year.
The
Minister was briefed on the physical
development at Kuantan Port by the
general manager of marketing &
corporate services of Kuantan Port
Consortium Sdn Bhd, Wong Soon Fah.
Also
present were the executive
vice-chairman, Datuk Shamsudin Md.
Dubi and other senior officials from
KPC and Kuantan Port Authority.
|
