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Conversion
work to turn conventional berths
12 and 13 at Northport in Port
Klang to handle container traffic
commenced on 22 October 2001 to
meet the demand from the next
generation container ships.
The
development of the 356 metre long
container berth is expected to
take about 18 months and will
extend Northport’s container
berth quayline to 2.73 km – the
longest at any Malaysian port.
A
principal target for the expansion
is to serve the progressively
larger super post panamax
container ships, exceeding 7,000
TEUs, that have started calling
the port.
The
first berth will be ready for
commercial operation by end of
2002 and the second berth by
middle of 2003.
The
conversion will also boost
handling capacity of Northport to
well above three million TEUs and
is expected to provide the port
with the flexibility to offer
berth appropriation option to
shipping lines, or consortia.
Meanwhile,
total box traffic at Northport
rose moderately by 7.7 per cent to
1.72 million in the first nine
months period of this year as
compared with 1.59 million in the
corresponding period of last year.
Transshipment
traffic continues to record
impressive growth.
Transshipment
traffic accounted 42 per cent or
746,000 TEUs in the
January-September cumulative
period of this year.
Northport
as the largest container handling
facility in Malaysia has also
taken delivery of two additional
super post panamax from IMPSA (M)
Sdn Bhd to meet the shoreside
infrastructure demands of the
emerging larger vessels.
The
RM 40 million super post panamax
cranes are part of the fleet
renewal programme carried by
Northport to provide competitive
and efficient port services.
The
cranes are fitted with boom
outreach of 48 metres and are
capable of handling 18-container
row across a vessel.
These
latest generation cranes are
directly linked to the crane's
Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC).
It continuously monitors the
crane's operational status and
maintenance condition from every
position sensors on-board
the crane and capture information
like container size, weight, cycle
times, etc., useful for quayside
vessels load/discharge operation.
The
additional two more cranes with
similar capacity and capability
from IMPSA will be delivered early
next year to Northport. These
deliveries will raise total quay
cranes capacity at Northport to 24
units or a crane for every 113
meters.
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