Port Klang, Malaysia’s busiest port, is considering constructing a third terminal after five or six years to augment the capacity of the two existing terminals in the area.
This as Northport, one of the two established terminals, said it has almost completed a fourth terminal that will increase its capacity by 10 percent.
Teh Kim Poo, chairman of the Port Klang Authority (PKA), was quoted by local media as saying that they will look into building a third terminal five to six years from now, as capacity at Northport and Westport was sufficient to meet demand until then.
A Hong-Kong based consultant has reportedly been hired to conduct a feasibility study on the third port, a project under the Port Klang Development Master Plan.
The port processed a little over 10 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last year, up some 4.1 percent from 2011. It is the first time it broke into double-digit volume.
Meanwhile, Northport’s new container terminal is nearly 85 percent complete and will start operations this year, according to its chief executive officer Abi Sofian Abdul Hamid.
The MYR500-million (US$157 million) investment is seen to raise the total capacity at Northport, the country’s largest port operator, to 5.6 million TEUs from the current five million TEUs.
Northport is expanding at a time when container traffic at Port Klang is on single-digit growth, hoping the move will stimulate business.
It served about 3.1 million TEUs last year and expects to handle some 10 percent more this year.
Photo: suatu ketika
