It looks as though ICTSI will be awarded the contract to operate a new container terminal to be developed in the Sultanate of brunei
The Sultan of Brunei Darussalam has given the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) the go-ahead to award to International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) the cargo handling operations at a new US$1.5B container terminal to be built on Pulau Muara Besar. This island off Muara is the country’s principal and only deepwater port located some 29 kms from the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.
ICTSI has been notified of the Sultan’s decision by the BEDB, but says that the award is subject to several requirements, including the negotiation of a formal memorandum of understanding between the two parties. As terminal operator, the company expects to assist in designing the terminal.
Phase I of the BEDB port project, estimated to cost some US$300M, calls for a 34.3-hectare container terminal with a total quay length of 660m, a water depth of 16m, four quay cranes (including two post-Panamax units) and a 4.3-hectare container yard with 156 reefer slots.
The BEDB is looking to deepen the existing channel to at least 16m initially, reclaim additional land on which the new container facility is to rise and construct a bridge linking Puau Muara Besar to the mainland. Once fully developed, the terminal is envisaged to have a quay length of 5000m, possibly with a maximum depth of 20m.
In addition to the container port, the island will be home to a 100-hectare export processing zone for a halal food processing hub, logistics companies and warehousing.
Another 800 hectares will be dedicated an industrial park that would include a 150-hectare aluminum smelting complex. This will require massive reclamation work, with the total area of Pulau Muara Besar eventually being expanded to about 2000 hectares from the current 955 hectares.
What will happen to the existing Muara Container Terminal is not yet clear. The facility, which has one container berth and a quay length of 250m, used to be operated by Singapore’s PSA International in joint venture with Archipelago Development of Brunei, but it reverted to the Brunei Government in April 2007.
