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Malaysia’s Sapangar Bay port expansion on track, seeks higher tariffs

Malaysia’s Sapangar Bay port expansion on track, seeks higher tariffs
Sabah's Suria Capital Holdings is on track with its expansion programme, which will start next year, at Sapangar Bay Container Port (SBCT), and is expected to be completed by 2023, while also trying to update port tariffs to contemporary levels, local media reported.

SBCT Group md Ng Kiat Min said Suria has submitted a request to Sabah Ports Authority to review its outdated port tariffs which were currently being regulated under the Sabah Ports Enactment and had not changed for the past 30 years.

Suria Capital chairman Faisyal Yusof Hamdain Diego meanwhile added that it was about time for the state government to consider revising the port charges, noting that some of the group's shareholders from peninsular Malaysia had pointed to the several rounds of revisions at the ports in Johor.

"It is justified to have revision we have spent so much on our facility and system for the ports which related industries should understand the need for us to review the tariff," he added.

Elaborating on the expansion plans, Ng said in the first phase, berth length would be extended from 500 m to 850 m, while the container stacking area would be expanded from 13 ha to 34 ha. This would more than double capacity to 1.25m teu by 2026 from 500,000 teu currently.

Ng said the group was building in anticipation of demand and the expansion would enable SBCT to cater to bigger vessels and high volumes in future.

“This is a supply-driven initiative. We have to get infrastructure ready to entice downstream foreign investment and generate more cargos,” she said. Ng pointed out that with its strategic location, SBCT had the potential to become a regional transhipment hub.

“The federal government has approved MYR1.1bn ($255.7m) through the Sabah Economic Development Investment Authority to transform the port into a transshipment hub, which will become a game changer to spur the economy.

Other major infrastructure works lined up include the construction of conventional cargo terminal at Sepangar Bay Port for the relocation of Kota Kinabalu port operation, Sapangar Oil Terminal Jetty extension, barge facility at Sandakan and Lahad Datu Ports, as well as the construction of new jetty at Lahad Datu Port.