THE CONGESTION problem at the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) will be resolved by next month when an additional 3,000 ground slots at its container yard is ready for stacking cargo. This announcement was made after the Association of Malaysian Hauliers (AMH) advised its customers in the northern region to send their export container cargo to Port Klang.

“Although on July 1, 2010, there was an instruction from Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) chairman Datuk Dr Hilmi Yahaya to the NBCT to open up the window frame for delivering container cargo to five days, the order was not implemented...  We still have to deliver export containers within the one and half day window frame,” said AMH (northern region) chairman R. Amaiappan. Read here. The move to Port Klang would ease the congestion temporarily at the NBCT which is over 85 per cent stacked with container cargo most of the time. Read here

PPSB general manager (container) Obaid Mansor said the matter had to do with the physical constraint of the container yard at NBCT. “This has nothing to do with orders. For the past one month, vessels have been coming in late to ship out cargo at the NBCT container yard, resulting in space constraint.” Read here

Penang Port Commission (PPC) general manager Noor Ariff Yusoff said the additional slots were part of the phase three expansion programme at the NBCT. Noor Ariff said PPC and PPSB were now working on collecting the relevant data from all port users to formulate a system for cargo delivery and storage that was agreeable to everyone. “We will be having a meeting with all the stakeholders on July 28 to come up with a solution for the hauliers that will help them out until next month when the 3,000 additional ground slots are ready.” Read here

The Penang government had earlier on called on Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha to resolve the problem at the NBCT. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng urged Kong to “intervene and appoint expert advisers” to the PPC and PPSB to look into the problem. “Penang cannot progress into a high-income economy if our communications and logistics hub are not up to standard. Expert assistance from outside should be sought if PPC and PPSB are unable to resolve the container cargo congestion problems swiftly.” Read here

In response, the PPC says there is no need for the federal government to intervene. PPC chairman Tan Cheng Liang stated that “It is an operation issue. The congestion is because of the increase of container cargo that comes into the terminal – 27.3 per cent more for the first half of 2010 compared with the same period last year.” Read here

Other news

• NCER states to get projects worth RM835m: Five government agencies and companies has promised to invest a total of RM835 million for several projects in Kedah, Penang, Perak and Perlis, the states that make up the Northern Corridor Economic Regions (NCER). Read here
• National guidelines not swift in coming: Penang will seek the input from stakeholders once it gets hold of the National Guidelines For Swiftlet Breeding which was passed in the Cabinet about two weeks ago. Read here
• Penang set to see RM2b projects: Some RM2.1 billion worth of residential properties in Penang are being lined up for development from this year to next. Read here
• Penang taking steps to attract diaspora: The Penang state government is taking baby steps to lure Penangites working in Singapore to return either for career development or retirement and in the process also to encourage more Singaporeans to do likewise. Read here
• Indian firms to sign MoUs in Penang: Some 12 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) that could generate over US$10mil in investments for Penang are expected to be signed soon by at least seven Indian companies with local businessmen. Read here

For more news on Penang from July 26 to August 1, 2010 , please click here 

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