A new deepwater terminal will be built at Kuantan Port, a multipurpose port about 25 kilometers north of Kuantan City in the east coast of Malaysia, beginning the first quarter of 2014.
Port operator IJM Corporation Bhd will invest about MYR2 billion (US$628 million) in building the deepwater terminal designed for berthing vessels of up to 200,000 deadweight tonnage, according to a report by Bernama, Malaysia’s national news agency.
Datuk Teh Kean Ming, IJM chief executive officer and managing director, said the new terminal, expected to be completed in 2016, will double the size of the port to raise its handling capacity to 52 million freight tonnes of cargo from the current 26 million freight tonnes.
The proposed terminal will have a water depth of 16 meters, with plans to dredge the waters to two more meters in the second phase of development, said Bernama.
“We will construct the terminal under the first phase. The construction works will be mainly undertaken by IJM, as we have the expertise,” said Teh.
The expansion of Kuantan Port is part of the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP) project, in which Guangxi in China will invest more than $2.2 billion directly or via joint ventures with Malaysian companies.
