KOTA KINABALU (The Star)  -  The new dedicated container port of Sabah Port Sdn Bhd (SPSB) currently being built in Sapanggar Bay will be operational by early 2007.

By then, the container operation at the existing Kota Kinabalu Port in Tanjung Lipat would be moved to Sapanggar Bay, leaving only the general cargo operation, managing director Datuk Abu Bakar Abbas said.

The RM394mil port will have a 500-metre long jetty capable of handling two container vessels of up to 2,500 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) at one time and a container stacking area of 15 hectares. 

It will have an annual throughput capacity of 500,000 TEUs.

With the new container port, the shipment of containers to and from Sabah would be smoother as it would become the container hub, Abu Bakar told a media conference yesterday.

SPSB is also developing new facilities to cater for tremendous growth of the palm oil industry in the state. Two oil jetty berths are under construction in Sandakan Port and expected to be operational by late this year.

Abu Bakar also said SPSB planned to develop a jetty and other related facilities at the Palm Oil Industry Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu. 

POIC is a project by the State Government involving the initial development of 200 hectares into downstream palm oil industries.

He said cargoes handled at the seven ports in Sabah - Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu, Sapanggar Bay Oil Terminal, Kunak and Kudat - have increased 5.8% to 26,167 tonnes last year from 24,646 tonnes in 2004. – Bernama