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With the trend in shipping now pointing towards
deploying of bigger (and faster) ships in long
haul trades like Europe-Asia, Northport, one of
the dozen global ports selected by global
carriers in the trade, is committed to meeting
the infrastructure needs of the new genre mega
carriers.
To meet the increasing user expectation on its
facilities and services, Northport, at Port
Klang will roll-out a RM500 million expansion
plan this year that will further expand and
improve its container handling capacity, apart
from enhancing its ability to handle other
cargoes as well.
The expansion plan will ensure Northport to
maintain its lead over other ports in the
country as the only port in the country with the
largest spread of shipping services and
connectivity to global ports.
A total of RM500 million will be spent over the
next 2-3 years on the expansion phase that will
include the development of 350 metre container
berth that will bring to total the container
quayline at the port to 3.6km.
The expansion plan also calls for the
development of other facilities and purchase of
more new generation super post panamax cranes
and supporting equipment.
“If Malaysian ports are to remain relevant in
the dynamic and competitive international port
system, we must continue to provide to the needs
of these deep-draft mega-sized ships, including
longer berths, more equipment and deeper access
channels,” said the managing director/CEO of
Northport (Malaysia) Bhd Datuk Basheer Hassan
Abdul Kader.
The expansion plan overlaps the on-going
development that includes the arrival of three
units super post panamax shoreside cranes will
complement the existing 24 shoreside gantry
cranes at the container.
These bigger ships generally also have a larger
volume of containers to load or discharge and
thus it is important that the port stay time is
kept as short as possible. Otherwise the gains
that these bigger vessels hope to reap in the
form of economies of scale are lost, said the
port chief.
In addition to the ship-to-shore or shoreside
cranes will also be taking delivery of a range
of cranes and equipment to support the
activities at the yard. This includes the
acquisition of 12 more straddle carriers, 12
rubber-tyred gantry cranes, 3 more high reach
stacker for empties and forklifts.
The addition of 10 more RTGs will raise the
population of RTGs to 20 and will mark an
important shift in our efforts to optimize
terminal efficiency through high density
operations.
Basheer also welcomed the move taken by the
government to dredge the North Access Channel at
Port Klang that will provide easier access to
bigger and deep-drafted ships to call at
Northport.
Under the dredging package awarded by Port Kalng
Authority, the approach channel will be dredged
up to 13 metres from present 11.3 metres.
With the tidal range 1-5 metres, the depth is
sufficient to the navigation of the mega sized
deep draft vessels into our port without any
hindrance, said Basheer.
Several lines such as Orient Overseas Container
Lines, Maersk, Yang Ming Line, MISC Berhad, NYK
Line and Hapag-Lloyd have already started
deploying the mega size carriers are calling at
Northport and more are expected to do in 2007
and beyond.
“We are confident that the deepening of the
approach channel at Northport (that complements
the commissioning of Berth 14 with 15 meter
depth) and our development plan will strengthen
Northport’s competitive position to effectively
respond to the increasing size and capacity of
ships calling only at selected ports worldwide,
especially the mega size carriers of 8,500 TEUs
capacity and more,” he said. |
