Penang Port needs extra land to ease container backlog

MALAYSIA's Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) needs one month to solve the congestion problems at the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) as the new decking area with 3,000 ground slots will be ready by then.

"PPSB has also identified certain key problems to be resolved to hasten the flow of cargo delivery. These entail the opening of all the four entrance gates during meal hours and improving the scanning of container cargo to speed up cargo delivery," Penang Port Commission (PPC) chairman Tan Cheng Liang was quoted as saying in a report by The Star.

"When the additional 3,000 ground slots at the new decking area are ready next month, PPSB will open the window frame for cargo delivery back to five days," she said.

Due to congestion at the NBCT container yard, the window for cargo delivery was shortened to 11/2 days three months ago.

Ms Tan said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should quickly hand out land titles to PPC for four plots of land so that they could be used to ease congestion at the NBCT.

"Two plots of land are for use at the NBCT while the other two are for use by PICT," Ms Tan said. "One plot of about 26 hectares has been designated for use as a container yard at the NBCT. This container yard has 4,200 ground slots to accommodate cargo.

"Another plot is for a bridge at the NBCT to facilitate cargo movement from the container yard to the decking area," she added.
(Source:www.schednet.com)