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BINTULU Port Sdn Bhd (BPSB)
and HUB Shipping Sdn Bhd have signed a terminal
service agreement (TSA) spanning five years.
BPSB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bintulu
Port Holdings Bhd while HUB Shipping is wholly
owned by HUBLine Bhd.
BPSB said in a statement the TSA would ensure
cooperation between both parties for guaranteed
throughput, strategic pricing incentives,
operational enhancement, new shipping services
and joint marketing effort.
“It is also to support BPSB's vision to become
the main transhipment port for the
Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippine East Asia
Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA region).
“This growth area covers Sarawak, Sabah, Brunei,
Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Irian Jaya and southern
Philippines,” it said.
BPSB said there was a strong possibility that
new shipping services would be introduced by
HUBLine in the future from Bintulu International
Container Terminal (BICT), operated by BPSB.
“The shipping line is one of the top five
customers of BICT and HUBLine has been
contributing significant amount of containers
that were handled via BICT.
“Currently, HUBLine has five shipping services
running from BICT on a weekly basis that covers
the Far East, West Malaysia, East Malaysia and
Kalimantan ports,” it said.
According to the statement, besides being well
known as a liquefied natural gas hub, BPSB has
also emerged as the main port that handled
containerised cargo and bulk cargo consisting of
crude oil, petroleum products, fertilisers and
palm oil in Sabah and Sarawak.
“For the first nine months of this year, Bintulu
Port has handled 178,316 TEUs, an increase of
28% from the same period last year.
“BPSB recorded container throughput growth of
35.11% to 199,704 TEUs in 2006.”
BPSB said the port was expected to achieve its
forecast of at least 230,000 TEUs this year.
Bintulu Port has been the number one container
port in East Malaysia since 2003 in terms of
container throughput.
It was ranked fourth among the top 20 container
ports in the BIMP-EAGA region in container
throughput last year.
The statement said the growth was supported by
the increasing volume of transhipment containers
handled at BICT and the introduction of new
shipping services by notable shipping lines.
“Currently, almost 60% of the container volume
handled at BICT is transhipment containers.
“In years to come, new shipping services are
expected to be introduced by HUBLine from BICT
that will partly fuel the growth of the
container volume at BICT,” it said.
BPSB said the BICT container yard capacity would
increase to 600,000 TEUs by 2011 from the
current 328,900 TEUs.
“BPSB is also embarking on the development of
the Container Freight Station with a space of
10,000 sq m which is expected to be ready by end
of 2009,” it said.
“Also in the pipeline is the ongoing procurement
of handling equipment such quay cranes and other
yard equipment to boost the handling capacity
and efficiency of the terminal.
“The port aims to have a total of four quay
cranes by the middle of next year.” |
