Bintulu Port

Bintulu Port is located at the doorstep of one of the most dynamic industrial
development zone in Borneo, handling oil & gas related industries, timber
based and palm oil products. Its location also facilitates the feedering and
transloading operation between various regional ports for faster shipping
transit time to major international ports and export destination. Today, it is East
Malaysia's largest container port and the nations sole liquefied natural gas
(LNG) export gateway and it is noted as currently one of the largest LNG
export terminal in the world.
The cargo generated from the current hinterland is expected to surge with the
implementation of Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy (SCORE)
Initiatives. Within this corridor a lot of industries has been identified by taking
into considerations of the availability of land, energy supplies, natural
resources and port facilities. This will contribute and fuel the cargo growth
for Bintulu Port.
A) Geography
Bintulu port is situated midway between Kuching, Sarawak and Kota
Kinabalu, Sabah along the busy sea lanes of IntraAsia Trade with a deep sea
harbour, Due to this, Malaysian government has identified Bintulu Port as a
potential load center in the region shared by Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal
Territory of Labuan. Under the concept of load centering, local manufacturers
of goods and producers of raw materials are encouraged to transship their
cargos through a designated port that carry out transshipment. Concentrating
cargo at the port will attract more main line operators to the port and the
attendant feeder services and ancillary services to support the vessels calling
and cargo handling requirements in line with the hub and spokes system of
container shipping. The mainline operator, Evergreen and regional feeder
players such as Johan Shipping, Hubline, Harbour Link and Geniki already
call at the port. These shipping lines provide mainline, regional and feeder
services connecting the port with various ports in the region and beyond. The
fact is Bintulu International Container Terminal (BICT) has emerged as a
transshipment hub in the Borneo region. The higher growth of both types of
cargos at Bintulu Port is attributed to the growing economic activities in its
hinterland, increasing trade from Sabah, growing feeder connections between
the port and other ports in the BIMP-EAGA region, and regular shipping
services from Indonesia.
Bintulu Port recently signed four terminal service agreements with Evergreen,
Taiwans giant mainline operator, and regional shipping lines Harbour Line,
Hubline and Swee Joo which have extensive networks across the Asian
region. This is expected to increase the volume of containers handled by BICT
significantly in the years ahead.
B) Physical
Bintulu Port has excellent physical characteristics that enable it to accept the
call of large ships. These features include efficient sea access, a deep draft of
14 meters the deepest compared to other ports in Sabah and Sarawak and
an approach channel 240 meters wide and 5.7 km long. For ports in the
region to attract the calls of intra-Asian services, they must have an estimated
draft of 13 meters to be able to accommodate ships in the 2,000 TEU class

which are commonly in service in the trade, and even vessels up to 3,000
TEU capacity.
In addition to the infrastructures, Bintulu Port enjoys ample land space for
further development, unlike city ports such as Kuching and Kota Kinabalu
which can no longer expand due to space constraints. Bintulu Port has a total
land area of 320 ha. that puts it in good stead to further expansion of its
infrastructures and capacity to serve growing throughput and meet future
demand for ports services.

Table
Figure1 1Feature
East Malaysia
of East Malaysia
Port physical
Port

C) Facilities
Bintulu Port contain modern and advance facilities that enable it to act as a
key port in the region. It acts as the only and largest export gateway for
liquefied natural gas (LNG). LNG constitutes around 60% of all cargoes
handled at the port, making the Bintulu Port the important LNG port in the
ASEAN region. It is also handling a growing variety and volume of other types
of cargos including liquid bulk (i.e. palm oil, petrochemicals, edible oils), dry
bulk (i.e. fertilizers, cement, palm kernels), general / conventional and
containerised cargos.
The port facilities available at BICT provide it a different advantage over
other ports in Sabah and Sarawak. This high and efficient performance of
container handling is made possible by the availability of post-Panamax
gantry cranes to handle containers. In addition to the cranes, Bintulu Port is
also equipped with a range of container handling equipment such as rubber
tyred gantry cranes (RTGs), prime movers and trailers. It also features a
larger container storage yard and cargo consolidation area. It has large area
for Transit Shed, Open Storage and Bulk Fertilizer Warehouse. BICT exists
within a highly developed port complex designed to receive and handle large
and deep draft LNG vessels. In contrast, other first tier ports in East Malaysia
are not as well-developed and would have to contend with high and probably
prohibitive dredging and reclamation costs to provide the approach channel,
breakwater and port basin, and to match the level of development which
Bintulu Port enjoys.
Bintulu Port also provide good berth facilities for General Cargo Wharf, Bulk
Cargo Wharf, LNG Jetty, LPG Jetty,Container Terminal, Single Buoy Mooring,
Multipurpose Terminal General Cargo yard and many others with total
capacity of 71.24 and high max vessel size for their berth facilities.

Container Operation Equipment

Type of Equipment
Unit
Capacity (Tonnes)
s
Container Quay Crane (QC)
2
40.6 (Under Spreader),
(Post-Panamax)
50.0 (Under Cargo Beam)
Container Quay Crane (QC)
2
40.6 (Under Spreader),
(Panamax)
50.0 (Under Cargo Beam)
Mobile Harbour Crane (MHC)
1
35.0 (Under Spreader),
100.0 (Under Hook)
Rubber Tyred Gantry Crane (RTG)
4
40.6 (Under Spreader)
(4+1 / 6+1 High with 6+1 Row)
2
8
Reach Staker Diesel (RSD)
3
45.0
5
Terminal Tractor (TTT)
6
60.00 (Max. Towed Load
4
including CT)
10
21
Container Trailer (CT)
6
40.0
(4 units CKL & 10 units DSC are Twistlock
4
(Safe Loading Capacity)
type CT)
18
21
Empty Reach Stacker (ERS)
2
10.0
Empty Container Handler (ECH)
2
10.0
Heavy Forklift (HFL)
2
8.0
2
Forklifts (LPG) (GFL) - Low Mast
3
3.0
3
Forklifts (LPG) (BPFL) - Low Mast
3
2.5
3
3.0

Table 1 Container Handle Facilities

Berthing Facilities &
Capacities

Nos
.

Length
(m)

Depth
(m)

Max Vessel Size

(DWT)

General Cargo Wharf

Bulk Cargo Wharf
LNG Jetty
LPG Jetty
Petrochemical Terminal
Shell MDS Jetty
Container Terminal

3
1
3
1
2
1
2

514.5
270
450

10.5
13.5
15
11
11
13
14

25,000
60,000
80,000
51,000
30,000
40,000
55,000

Edible Oils Terminal

Multipurpose Terminal (950
M)
Single Buoy Mooring
Oil Barge Berth
Coastal Terminal
General Cargo Yard
Covered Storage

2
5

950

14
14

50,000
55,000

Capacity
(Mill
Tonnes)
2.91
1.33
34.24
0.94
2.46
1.22
400,000
TEUs
5.38
2.55

2
1
1
2
10

65
120
-

19.5
7
4.5
-

320,000
2,000
1,000
Total Berth Capacity

13.18
0.45
0.38
4.10
2.10
71.24

Table 2 Berth Facilities

Storage Facilities
Transit Shed
Warehouse
Open Storage
Rigger Warehouse
Bulk Fertilizer Warehouse
Container Storage Yard
Hazardous Godown
Hazardous Container Storage
Ground Slots
Reefer Points

No.
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
-

Area (m2) / Units

10,000
7,200
71,900
2,376
5,100
66,450
312
36 slots 3 high
3,786 units
84 points

Table 3 Storage Facilities

Figure 1 Berth Layout

D) Efficient and Service

Bintulu port enjoys higher throughput volumes among the ports in East
Malaysia. This is evidenced by the consistently high growth of container and
cargo throughput handled by Bintulu International Container Terminal (BICT)
over the years. Its handling of 199,704 TEU in 2006 compared to 147,900 in
2005, a 35% growth, was the highest growth rate compared to all container
terminals in Malaysia. Bintulu Port is major container port in Sarawak,
handling 51% of the states total container throughput of 491,800 TEU in
2007. It also show that the container throughput increase steadily from 2009
to 2014 year to 270,495 TEU. Bintulu port also has well performances in
cargo throughput. The cargo throughput increase steadily from 2009 to 2014
year until 45.50 mil tons
Bintulu Port steadily outperforms other ports in achieving the highest annual
growth rate of container throughput, because of its efficiency and high
productivity rate due to good facilities and management. Bintulu port is also
renowned for providing a range of marine services to its users including
pilotage, towage and mooring. Besides, it also provide auxiliary services such
as fresh water supply, stevedoring, handling, repair or maintenance and
shipping service at competitive price compare to other regional ports.
It

places strong emphasis on safety, as evidenced by the Vessel Traffic

Surveillance (VTS) System that monitors and controls vessel movement in the
port waters to ensure their navigation safety. Further testimony to its
responsiveness in meeting its customers needs is the provision of a 450
meters-long dedicated container terminal and a wide range of ancillary
facilities to support shipping lines. Further compounding the low container
handling rates at Bintulu ports is the high waiting time for berthing, which
range from 12 hours to 48 hours. This will led to the imposition of high
congestion surcharges to the port users.
Items
Container
(TEUs)

2007
251,80
0

2008
290,16
7

2009
248,39
0

2010
251,29
6

2011
215,45
1

2012
231,05
3

2013
250,35
3

2014
270,49
5

Table 4 Container Handled

Items
Cargo (Million Tonnes)

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

38.5 Table
40.45 Cargo
38.4Throughput
40.6
41.7
41.1
43.8
8
7
4
2
0
6
1
LNG
22.7
22.6
22.2
23.4
24.8 / Part
23.5Thereof
25.4
Type
Per Tonne
8
3
2
9 RM4.50
3
8
Palletised or unitised cargo 1
Bagged
cargo (rice, sugar, salt)
Non-LNG
15.8
17.7
16.1
17.2
16.8RM3.50
17.6
18.3
Other bagged cargo
7
9
0
0
1 RM5.00
3
3
Other general cargo
RM6.00
Sawn timber in bundles
RM3.50
Heavy lift of 3 tonnes and above
RM11.00
Bulky lift of over 3 cu.m per lift
RM11.00
Long lift of over 9m in length
RM11.00
Dry bulk cargo
RM1.00
Liquid Bulk Cargo
RM0.30
Vehicle
Per Unit
Ro-ro
RM25.00 each
Lo-lo
RM9.00 per tonne or part thereof

2014
45.40
25.49
19.91

Table 6 Stevedorage Charge

Per Unit
Per Box, up to 20 ft in
length
Per box, up to 40ft in
length

Laden
RM 60

Empty
RM 30

Shifting
i) on same level in same hold

Per Tonne
RM 5

RM 80

RM 40

ii) Between levels in same

hold
iii) Between hatches via
wharf

RM 7
RM 10

Table 7 Container Handling Charge

Type
General cargo berth/Container Terminal
Bulk Cargo Berth
Petroleum Jetty
LPG Jetty

Per Metre Hour or Part Thereof

RM1.00
RM2.30
RM5.00
RM5.50

Table 8 Berth Occupancy Rate

Normal/Dry/Refer Container
DG Container
Out of Gauge
Out of Gauge DG

20
FCL
RM
4.00
60.00
30.00
120.00
Table 9 Storage Charge (Per day)

40
FCL
RM
8.00
120.00
30.00
120.00

20
MT
RM
4.00
na
30.00
na

40
MT
RM
8.00
na
30.00
na