NBCT moves more containers

The North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) handled 577,799 20-footer equivalent units (TEUs) of container cargo for the first half of 2011, up 6.8% from the same corresponding period last year, said Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) chief operating officer Obaid Mansor.
However, the non-container cargo handled for the period under review eased 1% to 4.9 million freight tonnes.
Obaid told StarBiz that container cargo business generated about 75% of PPSB’s revenue, with the remaining coming from non-container cargo business.
“From January to June, we handled more container cargo of raw materials, as more Japanese companies ordered raw materials for their manufacturing plants in Penang.
“There are also increasing orders for special glasses used for solar panels.
“Moving ahead, we expect the second half to be busier as there will be orders for raw materials from manufacturing companies in Penang that are producing consumer electronic products for the festive season in the fourth quarter,” Obaid added.
He said there were four new rail mounted cranes in operation currently to move cargo to the container yard at the wharf.
“The rail-mounted cranes increase productivity, especially since the container stacking yard is now closer to the ship.
“Four more of these rail-mounted cranes will be brought in soon. The cost of the eight cranes is about RM55mil,” he added.
PPSB was still waiting for funds to undertake dredging works to deepen the sea channel to 14.5m from 11.5m to enable bigger vessels to make calls, said Obaid.
“Unless dredging is done soon, the RM210mil non-container terminal project will have to be put on hold.
“There is no point in constructing the non-container terminal if dredging is not done first and larger vessels cannot drop by,” he said

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