Posted on June 21, 2016
By Jack Wong, The Star Online
A federal government-funded massive dredging project will be undertaken for a long stretch of silted Sarawak River up to Kuching Port Pending terminal here.
The project, estimated to cost some RM360mil, will cover a 23.4km-long navigational channel from the Pending terminal to Tanjung Po.
According to Kuching Port Authority (KPA) general manager Rosli Saup, the proposed dredging works, which is expected to take 24 months, would deepen that stretch of the river to 9 metres below chart datum, with tidal water up to 12 metres draught. The river has a current depth of 7.5 metres.
A chart datum is the level of water that charted depths displayed on a nautical chart are measured from. The river has a width of 190 metres.
Once the river bed has been deepened, Rosli said cargo ships would not need to wait for high tide to sail up the Sarawak River as is the practice currently.
It will also pave the way for larger cargo vessels and cruise ships from Peninsular Malaysia and Asian countries to call directly at the Pending Terminal.
The Sarawak River has become shallower due to siltation over the years and this has hampered large cargo and cruise ships from calling at the Pending Terminal. The planned dredging will be the first to be carried out.
During a recent visit to KPA Senari deepsea port, Transport Minister Tan Sri Liow Tiong Lai said the dredging project would be implemented under the current 11th Malaysia Plan.
This year, a RM50mil allocation has been set aside for the project. The fund will be used, among others, to pay for an environmental impact assessment study and hydraulic study to be carried out. The Marine Department has been asked to submit a “needs statement” on the project. Dredging works has been slated to commence later this year.
For the project to go ahead, the Sarawak authorities are required to fund the maintenance of the dredged channel.
On a separate issue, Rosli said KPA had imposed a new tariff known as the Channel Maintenance Fee of RM1 per tonne of cargo/passengers within its limit area from this June 1 following the gazetting of Kuching Port Authority (Dues, Rates & Charges) (Amendments) Regulations 2016.
The fee applied to movement of cargo or passengers in and out of Sarawak. Movement of cargo and passengers within Sarawak are exempted.
“We expect fee collection of between RM9mil and RM10mil a year. The money will go to the state government coffer to fund the maintenance cost of the dredged channel,” Rosli told StarBiz.
Last year, KPA, Sarawak’s premier state port operator, registered total cargo throughput of about 9.33 million tonnes (for both Pending and Senari terminals). A total of 2012 cargo vessels called at the two terminals but fewer than 10 cruise ships berthed at the Pending terminal.
“KPA recorded its highest-ever cargo throughput of 9.57 million tonnes in 2013. One of the contributors was increase in transhipment cargo to west Kalimantan, Indonesia. The transhipment cargo is transport via land to Pontianak, west Kalimantan on the Sarawak border,” said Rosli.
Rosli said containerised cargo was handled by the Senari terminal and the Pending terminal had become a hub for handling motor vehicles from Peninsular Malaysia via its roll on-roll off facilities for vehicle carriers. The vehicles are then transported via trailers to major towns like Sibu and Miri.
The Pending terminal also handles other general cargo, like break bulk where cargo come in separate pieces rather than in containers.
The Senari terminal handled 225,328 TEUs (20-ft equivalent units) last year, down from 227,660 TEUs in 2014.
Source: The Star Online
