Sarawak, Sabah in talks with Federal government over new airline

KUCHING: Sarawak and Sabah are still having discussions with the Federal government on the proposed launch of a new airline said Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

He said both states were keen to buy majority shares in the new airline, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to enable them to plan ahead to improve their air accessibility besides wanting to have more flexible connections with other airlines that are serving the region.

“Both states would like to have routes that allow them to land in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and other cities where they can find feeding points from Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Brunei Darussalam,” he told reporters in Doha.

He was happy that Sarawak and Sabah were being served increasingly by low budget airlines, connecting Peninsular Malaysia with Sibu, Bintulu, Miri and Kota Kinabalu. – Bernama

Bintulu Port very customer oriented — MD

BINTULU: Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd (BPSB) is very customer focused and is always trying its best to fulfil and meet customers’ demands.

In saying this at the handing over of new cranes to BPSB at Bintulu International Container Terminal (BICT) yesterday, Harbour-Link Group Bhd (HLG) managing director Francis Yong Piaw Soon added that being BPSB’s frequent user, the group had been growing together with BPBS since its construction in the 1980s.

HLG is an integrated group providing container shipping, shipping and forwarding as well as integrated logistics services.

Two units of Panamax Class Ship-to-Shore Container Quay Cranes and eight units of Rubber-Tyred Gantry Cranes (RTG) were handed over to BPSB.

Representing BPSB was its chief executive officer Dato Mior Ahmad Baiti Mior Lub Ahmad.

AMAZING CRANES: (From left) Huang, Yong, Mior, Nasser and Zakhir standing beside the two models of quay crane (right) and RTG (left) on display during the handover ceremony.

Among those present were Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co Ltd vice-president Huang Qing Feng, Bintulu Port Authority operations assistant general manager Captain Zakhir Khan Yusop, BICT senior manager Ir Abdul Nasser Abdul Wahab and Harbour-Link Logistics Sdn Bhd project manager Kok Giok Huat.

“With these additional port machineries joining the existing fleet, BICT will better serve the community and meet the increasing demand from the development in SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy) especially the Samalaju Industrial Estate.

“Indeed, Bintulu Port is playing an important role for the economic and industrial development in our region,” said Yong.

He also thanked Bintulu Port Authority (BPA) for their far-sightedness in making the deep sea port a world standard international port from the beginning until today.

“We hope BPA will continue placing its importance in providing the basic port infrastructure for the benefits of the shipping industry at large,” Yong added.

The ceremony yesterday, he said, also marked a significant milestone in the commitment and achievement of HLG in extending its business activities into port machinery supplies and services.

He added it also created a significant point in further strengthening relationship between HLG and Bintulu Port.

BPSB had entrusted Harbour-Link Logistics Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Harbour-Link Group Berhad in the designing, manufacturing, delivery, testing and commissioning of these port machineries.

“We were given a very tight schedule to get these machineries delivered in two batches.” he said adding it was a big challenge for them.

For this, he thanked their project partner who is the manufacturer of the port machineries Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co Ltd (ZPMC) from Shanghai who had accomplished the enormous task successfully and delivered the machineries to BICT on time.

ZPMC is by far the world’s largest manufacturer of port container cranes.

It occupies about 75 per cent of the world market share in 280 ports in over 80 countries worldwide.

ZPMC has eight huge production bases in Shanghai, Nantong, Jiang Yin and Chan Shin Island which are equipped with innovative state of the art manufacturing technology to cater to all kinds of requirements and needs of their customers.

New units of cranes to beef up port operations

BINTULU: The commissioning of two new units of Panamax Class Ship-to-Shore Container Quay Cranes (QC) and eight units of Rubber-Tyred Gantry Cranes (RTG) will beef up Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd’s (BPSB) container handling capabilities and services.

Its chief executive officer Dato Mior Ahmad Baiti Mior Lub Ahmad when speaking during the handing over of the equipment by Harbour-Link Logistics Sdn Bhd to BPSB yesterday said it would definitely serve BPSB’s customers well in meeting their needs.

“We will endeavour to deploy more equipment and improve our operating systems to reduce vessel turnaround time and improve our productivity including hauler turnaround time,” said Mior.

He said it was also very significant to Bintulu International Container Terminal (BICT) to provide additional equipment to its container handling fleet so as to be ready in serving the growing customer operational demands, in line with BPSB vision to be a world class port.

“We are currently reviewing the implementation of a new container terminal operating system and reengineering the process flow.

“We are also currently implementing recruitment programme to beef-up manpower requirement,” added Mior.

Furthermore, with the commissioning of these equipment, he said BICT will undertake to refurbish and retrofit the current fleet of QCs and RTGs in its effort to improve its availability and reliability.

Prior to this, BICT is only equipped with among others two units Post-Panamax Container Quay Cranes and six units of RTGs.

To improve its fleet of cranes, BPSB awarded Harbour-Link Logistics Sdn Bhd with two contracts to supply, deliver, test and commission the eight units of RTGs and two units Panamax Class QCs on March 24, 2011 after a tender process and rigorous selection criteria.

Harbour-Link Logistics Sdn Bhd later delivered the equipment in two phases.

Mior, therefore on behalf of BPSB, thanked all the government support agencies namely Royal Customs Department, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida), Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) that had directly or indirectly contributed to the success of the project.

Meanwhile for Harbour-Link Logistics Sdn Bhd, he hoped that they would ensure that the cranes were well maintained and be continuously available for their operational needs.

“To users, we appreciate your continuous support and for patronising our services where we endeavour to continuously serve you better and efficiently while maintaining competitive tariff structure,” said Mior.

Among those present were Harbour-Link Group Bhd managing director Francis Yong Piaw Soon, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co Ltd vice-president Huang Qing Feng, Bintulu Port Authority operations assistant general manager Captain Zakhir Khan Yusop, BICT senior manager Ir Abdul Nasser Abdul Wahab and Harbour-Link Logistics Sdn Bhd project manager Kok Giok Huat.