Liquid cargo handling facilities expanded

A number of pro-active measures have been taken to upgrade its liquid cargo handling facilities at the Port to cope with the increasing volume of liquid cargo as well as to meet the berthing requirement of larger and bigger capacity ships in the trade.

The Port which recorded 3.25 million tonnes of liquid bulk traffic last year handled an impressive 5.4 million fwt of various liquid bulk throughput in the first eight months period of this year.

“It is worth noting that this is the first time petrochemical throughput handled at Port recorded one million mark in the January-August period,” said the Engineering Manager of Johor Port, Khalid Mohamed.

"We have completed the construction of dangerous cargo jetty-4 (DCJ-4) for the petrochemical giant, Titan Petrochemicals & Polymers Berhad.  The jetty is designed to accommodate vessels up to 95,000 displacement tonnes with 225m LOA and has started commercial operation on July 1, this year," said Khalid.

The volume of petrochemical trade has risen sharply following the commissioning of new DCJ-4, which caters for the handling of Low Density Polyethylene (LDP) Plant and High Density Polyethylene (HDP) produced by Titan.

Meanwhile throughput from other petrochemical operators like the Far East Oil Terminal, Caltex Oil (M) Sdn Bhd, BP Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Petronas and New Port Bulk Terminal has also been recording positive growth.

“Johor Port is also in the process of enlarging the capacity of the existing Dangerous Cargo Jetty-2 and 3,” he said.

The DCJ 2, which draws 90 metres, will be expanded by another 20 metre to 110 metres while DCJ 3, which draws 230 metre, will be expanded by another  60 metre to 290 metres.

“Work on the expansion of the jetty has been progressing well and the enlarged jetty is expected to be ready by November this year. The enlarged jetty will allow Johor Port to handle 120,000 displacement tonnes carriers compared with only 90,000 dwt carriers berthing currently,” said Khalid.

He added with the improved and a more comprehensive range of facilities the Port a further improvement in the handling liquid bulk trade at the Port.

“The completion of enlarged jetty will raise our liquid bulk handling capacity to more than 40 per cent to 13.6 million tonnes from the present handling capacity of 9.6 million tonnes  per annum,” said Khalid Mohamed.