8/5/06 (Business Times) - THE RM322.42 million Sapangar Bay container port at Kota Kinabalu that is being developed by Sabah Port Sdn Bhd, is now at the final stage of construction.

According to the chairman of Suria Capital Holdings Bhd, Tan Sri Ibrahim Menudin, it will be the first dedicated container terminal in Sabah with a shore-side quay crane operations. The terminal will be fully commissioned by early next year.

Suria Capital owns Sabah Port that operates seven port terminals in Sabah.

Once operational, it will be turned into a dedicated container hub, capable of handling two container vessels of up to 2,500 TEUs at one time and a container stacking area of 15ha.

Ibrahim said the port will further enhance its operational efficiency by upgrading port facilities while expanding capacity, investing in new and modern equipment.

For this purpose the group will be investing more than RM1 billion.

A total of RM485 million has been approved but not contracted out by the management for the purchase of various cargo handling equipment. In addition to that, RM608 million has been approved by the board for the improvement of seven ports' (Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu, Kudak, Kunak, Lahat Datu, Sapangar Bay and Sapoorna) infrastructure facilities.

The port expansion also takes into account the development of the state's palm oil industry.

To meet the industry needs, Sabah Ports is currently active in the extension works and development of new oil jetties for the state's Palm Oil Industrial Clusters (POICs) in Lahad Datu, Kunak and Sandakan.

Ports in Sabah not only hope to act as key entry and exit points for exports or imports for the state, they also have the potential to be transformed into transit points for goods coming from the neighbouring countries.

Being in the strategic location of the BIMP-EAGA region, Sabah ports can foster important trading links for the country and also for the region.

Meanwhile, in terms of throughput, total tonnage at the seven ports increased by 6.2 per cent to 26.16 million tonnes in 2005 from the year earlier.

The strong global demand for palm oil from Sabah continued to impact positively on the port activities during 2005.

Palm oil cargoes which passed through the ports, particularly in Lahad Datu, Sandakan and Kunak, posted a significant increase of 12 per cent from 5 million tonnes in 2004 to 5.6 million tonnes in 2005.

The commodity became the ports' main revenue earner during the year, making up about 28 per cent of the total cargoes handled in 2005. - PortsWorld