ASEAN Ports Association Malaysia (MAPA)

THE delayed RM55.4mil Port Swettenham expansion project will be completed in September, says Penang Port Commission (PPC) chairman Tan Cheng Liang.

She says PPC is managing the project, which is 86% completed.

“The main building, now 99% completed, will accommodate shops, a Customs inspection and quarantine centre, and sufficient space for 40 taxis and five buses to pick up passengers.

“After that, the main contractor (of the project) will have to issue a two-year warranty for the entire project,” she told a press conference yesterday.

Tan Cheng Liang with an artist’s impression of the extended Port Swettenham pier.

The expansion, to enable international cruise liners with over 3,000 passengers to berth at Port Swettenham, was originally scheduled for completion by November 2007, 18 months after it kicked off in May 2006.

Due to technical problems related to design and finance faced by the main contractor, PPC extended the deadline to late last year.

“Since they were still not able to meet the extended deadline, PPC has decided to manage the project jointly with the main contractor.

“This will allow PPC to deal directly with the sub-contractors. We will use some new sub-contractors to complete the more specialised aspects of the expansion,” she said.

Tan adds that another option would be to terminate the main contractor and re-tender the whole project.

“This would take time and cost the Federal Government a further RM21mil.

“The approach that we are taking offers the best solution as it ensures the port redevelopment will be ready soon to help boost the local tourism industry,” she said.

By DAVID TAN

PENANG Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) is carrying out a rebranding exercise which will see it enhancing its facilities and services to clients while positioning its entire port operations under a new image.

Its managing director, Datuk Ahmad Ibnihajar said the entire rebranding process will not only involve the services the port is offering but also the image, delivery and the work structure of the organisation and its employees.

He said the changes are in order for PPSB to play a bigger role in driving the region’s logistics industry, in line with the government’s aspirations to make Penang the logistics hub for the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER).

When met by Bernama recently, he said that PPSB so far has identified several image solutions that were suited for the company to adopt for its rebranding exercise and hoped to finalise them by the first quarter of next year.

A rebranding programme could then be carried out to give workers a fresh inspiration and encourage them to work harder and make Penang Port relevant to the region’s logistics industry.

“We also want to attract users in the northern region including Southern Thailand to use the Penang Port as a main hub for exporting halal products to the rest of the world,” Ahmad said.

He said PPSB was also working to attract bigger ships from the Middle East and India to use the Penang Port as their cargo delivery and loading centre in the future.

“To enable the bigger ships to call here, we need to deepen the Pulau Pinang Straits and this will need a huge amount of money,” he said.

Ahmad also said that people often had a wrong view of PPSB and thought of it as being only a provider of ferry services and used the services to measure the entire capability of the company.

“That is not accurate, as besides the ferry (services), we are also involved in cargo handling, landing of cruise ships and others. We recorded profit in all the other services except the ferry services,” he added. – Bernama

By: btimes.com.my

Within the kaleidoscope of fast changing global logistics scenario, Penang Port Sdn Bhd has formulated a strategic approach to serve our customers at the peak level, in line with our new corporate vision to make Penang Port to be the PREMIER PORT AND LOGISTICS CHAIN INTEGRATOR IN THE REGION.

Under New Business Plan, for container operations, the North Butterworth Container Terminal will be expanding by another 600 meters to accommodate seven vessels at any one time.  The north channel entrance will also be dredged to 13.5 meters from the current depth of 11.5 meters to accommodate bigger drafted vessels.

In addition, the port is also planning a 1500 meter storage deck located directly to the back of the present berth.  This will enhance the handling of export containers and improve port productivity performance by up to 30%.  This deck will be able to handle 873,900 teus and together with the current capacity of 961,300 teus, total yard capacity at the port will be 1,835,200.

The new expansion plan will be equipped with six new super post panamax gantry cranes and 15 rubber tyred gantry cranes.  These new superstructures and equipment will certainly enhance our strategy of being supply driven port instead of being driven by demand.  With these new developments in plan, productivity at the port will be increased, with a new target of at 35 teus moves per hour.  The cost of construction is expected to be RM380.7 million.

Penang Port Sdn Bhd also has formulated a strategic approach to provide information services in tandem the company’s long term business plan, PELKON III, PPSB’s newest container terminal management system was official launched on 1 September 2006.  The objective is to make the port intelligent and move to   the paperless era with a host of new features and functionalities that will enable port customers to do business in an easier and faster way.

In the pipe line after marina project completion, is the development an international cruise passenger terminal at Swettenham Pier, that is estimated to cost RM65 million.  The project is already kicks off in May 2006 and targeted to complete in 2007.  The present Swettenham Pier will be upgraded as world class cruise terminal to revitalize the Georgetown Waterfront.  The scope of work involves the redeveloped of Swettenham Pier into an ultra-modern international cruise Terminal with a T-shaped berth 450 meters long and 9 meters deep.  Upon completion, the berth will be able to cater for cruise vessel carrying more than 2,000 passengers.

We believe that with these developments in place, we will be able to fulfill our customer’s expectations, thereby strengthening our market position and company performance.  Thus enhancing our capability to make Penang Port Sdn Bhd a truly regional huh for the Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand growth triangle.