The recent high growth in container traffic at Malaysian Ports has prompted several ports in the country to further improve and expand the container handling facilities.
At Port Klang which last year handled a total of 2.55 million TEUs, additional shoreside and landside capacities are being expanded by the three port terminal operators to meet the surge in demand.
The planned and expansion now underway at the terminals at Port Klang will raised the current capacity from 3.8 million TEUs to well above 5 million TEUs by end of this year.
Westport, which has recorded a growth averaging 74 per cent since it began container handling operations in 1994, is now implementing a berth expansion scheme that will add a further 600 metres of quayline to its present 1,200 metres berth.
By end of this year Westport will have 16 quay cranes, an additional 50 acres of yard, and 25 new trailers and its berthing capacity will increase 1.8 million TEUs. Westport handled 801,056 teus last year.
Klang Port Management Sdn Bhd (KPM), which operates the second container terminal at Northport, is also committed to investing in expand and enhancing its handling capacity and capability further.
Its expansion will boost the handling capacity at the terminal from 1.2 million TEUs to 1.8 million
teus.
The fleet of shoreside cranes will be increased from 12 to 14. KPM handled 810,000 TEUs last year.
Kelang Container Terminal, the largest container terminal in the country, plans to jointly develop additional berthing facilities at Northport.
KCT, which last year handled a total of 939,000 TEUs last year, plans to enhance its berthing capacity while also further improving its landside facilities. Its handling capacity is expected to be boosted to 0.0 million TEUs from its current 0.0 million TEUs.
At Penang Port, berthing capacity is being expanded by another 300 metres at the North Butterworth Container Terminal
(NBCT).
NBCT is currently operating with 600 metres of berth with handling capacity of 660,000 TEUs.
The RM322.4 million NBCT Phase IIB expansion project which covers 25 ha site will provide the port with a capacity to handle one million TEUs at theexpanded 900 metres berth which will have nine quay cranes.
Meanwhile, the new port of Tanjung Pelepas, at the southern tip of the Peninsula Malaysia, which came on stream in March this year is completing its first phase that will provide it with a capacity to handle 3.8 million TEUs.
The port which now offers 720 meter berth with 1.43 million TEUs handling capacity will have 18 super
post-panamax cranes and 58 units of rubber
tyred-gantry cranes when fully completed under its first phase.
Kuantan Port is also planning a development of a dedicated container handling facilities to cater for the booming petrochemical industries.
The planned 1.1km dedicated container terminal forms part of the 11 berths identified by Kuantan Port Consortium Sdn. Bhd in its RM832 million development plan.
The new container terminal with an additional two gantry cranes will greatly enhance container handling capacity to one million TEUs.
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