|
Northport at Port Klang, received the Technology
Business Excellence Award in the Logistics
Category for the development of Southpoint as a
regional conventional cargo hub.
Northport a major national container gateway
port is now in the midst of undertaking a major
re-development and expansion now underway of the
century-old port facilities into a modern and as
one of the largest conventional cargo hub ports
in the region.
Southpoint, originally known as Southport that
formed the oldest section of Port Klang, is now
undergoing a RM80 million-expansion and
re-development aimed at serving not only bigger
ships but a capacity to handle a greater variety
of cargo vessels.
It is the biggest expansion to date in the
development of the port with which history of
Port Klang, or then better known as Port
Swethenham, began more than 100 years ago.
The new investments in Southpoint also follows
the green-light given by Port Klang Authority
(the lessor and the regulatory agency of port
facilities and services at Port Klang) for the
development of 22 acres into a multipurpose yard
for value adding and storage activities,
especially to cater for the increased traffic
generated at the port.
The Technology Business Review award was
presented to Northport by the Parliamentary
Secretary to the Ministry of International Trade
& Industry, Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew at a
gala dinner held at Putrajaya on Friday.
Northport’s general manager (finance) Rubani
Dikon received the award on behalf of the port
operating company.
.
The expansion of Southpoint is expected to
provide a major boost to a growing variety of
conventional cargo traffic to be handled at
Southpoint which is positioning itself as major
regional hub port to handle more non-containerised
trade.
.
The development at Southpoint involving
re-development of berths 3,4 and 5 and expansion
landside storage capacity, will more than double
the present cargo handling capacity of Northport
to about 14 million tones.
The expansion of economies in the region has
also escalated the demand for ports with
capability to handle a wider variety of non-containerised
cargo as well as links to ports with global
connectivity.
Southpoint, operated by Northport (Malaysia) Bhd
(NMB), which also manages container handling
facilities with a capacity to handle 4.3 million
TEUs at Northport, is not only strategically
well-positioned but offers several key
advantages as a conventional cargo hub over
others in the region.
The key factors include status of its capacity
and the quality of infrastructure which is now
being further improved and expanded, vast tracts
of free zone industrial land, a high level of
efficiency and labour productivity and an
extensive spread of shipping network.
At Southpoint, the berth development involves
widening the current surface span of wharves 3,
4 and 5 that stretch 430 metres to 47 metres,
across from the present 15.2 metres. The wider
surface at the berths will allow smoother and
safe traffic flow during cargo loading/unloading
operations.
The berths will also be strengthened with the
installation of fenders to take the impact of
bigger vessels up to 80,000 displacement tones.
Along with the berth development and expansion
of landside facilities initiated by the port
operating company, parallel measures have been
taken by Port Klang Authority to deepen the
approach channel. The dredging of the dept
alongside to 11.5 meters and deepen the Labuan
Gurap Approach Channel will allow the berthing
of bigger and deep draft general cargo vessels.
The turning basin is also being deepened and
widened to allow 200 metre-long vessels to enter
and leave the Southpoint without any problem.
Currently, Southpoint, which handled about 8
million tones of cargo last year, has eight
berths (from Berth 1 to Berth 7A). The first
four have a depth between 9 m and 10.5 m to
cater for ocean-going vessels up to 40,000
displacement tonnes whilst Berths 5 to 7A with
depths of about 6m can accommodate coastal ships
of up to 6,000 displacement tonnes.
Other facilities include eight warehouses and a
recently completed container and multipurpose
yard with a total space of 35,000 sq.metres
apart from other port equipment's including
forklifts (ranging from 3 to 10 tonnes), towing
tractors, mobile cranes (10 to 15 tonnes),
trailers and container trailers. |
