The Jewel of Muscat, a replica of a 9th-century Omani ship, built through a jointeffort by the governments of Oman and Singapore called at Tanjong City Marina,Penang Port on 2 June 2010.
Building of the ship began in October 2008, and the ship started to sail for Singaporeon 16 February 2010 from the Sultan Qaboos Port in Muscat, Oman.
The ship's design was based on the archaeological findings of the Belitung Wreck,which was discovered in 1998 in Indonesia.
The ship set sail from Tanjong City Marina, Penang Port to Port Klang on 18 June2 010 before heading to its final destination, Singapore.
FCZ SYSTEM TO OPERATE IN APRIL 2010
The Free Commercial Zone (FCZ) System developed by Penang Port Commission (PPC) is expected to be operational in April 2010.
To date, 97% of the system has been completed after adjustments were made to three modules following recommendations of the Malaysian Statistics Department.
The FCZ System enables port users to declare their documents in an expeditious, safe and convenient manner 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
SWETTENHAM PIER OPEN TO INTERNATIONAL CRUISE LINERS
THE newly-opened RM62.9 million Swettenham Pier in Penang Port has received its first cruise liner — the SuperStar Libra on 13 November 2009. The terminal is capable of berthing an international cruise vessels of up to 90,000 tons.
Meanwhile. the famed Queen Mary II also made her maiden call at the terminalon 4 February 2010. Other cruise lilners that have confirmed calling at the terminal includes SuperStar Virgo, Amusemnet world and AIDAcara.
Star Cruises have also made Swettenham Pier the home port of Star Pisces. Star Pisces is currently operating a one-night cruise around the Penang waters, leaving the terminal at 8pm nightly at arriving back at Swettenham Pier at 8am the next morning.
BANGLADESH SHIPPING MINISTER VISITS PENANG PORT
The Minister of Shipping, Bangladesh, H.E. Shahjahan Khan led a 21-member delegation to visit Penang Port on 19 January 2010.
On hand to receive the Minister and his delegation were Penang Port Commission Chairman, Madam Tan Cheng Liang, General Manager Mr Noor Ariff Yusoff and Penang Port Sdn Bhd Chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya.
The delegation comprising officials from the Ministry of Shipping, consulate, port authority and businessmen exchanged views and explored business opportunities in port and shipping ventures during the visit which also included a tour of the Penang Swettenham Pier International Cruise Terminal and North Butterworth Container Terminal.
NBCT PHASE IIIA EXPANSION IN GOOD PROGRESS
Work on phase IIIA expansion of the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) is progressing well with 65% of the construction completed. When completed in 2011, the NBCT with a total quay length of 1,500 metres will have a capacity to handle 1.2 million TEUs per annum.
To boost terminal productivity, Penang Port has also invested some RM175 million in the purchase of seven gantry cranes. In 2009, Penang Port handled an increase of 3.1% of container throughput to 958,476 TEUs from 929,639 TEUs in 2008.
PPC CENTRALISES OPERATION / REGULATORY DEPARTMENT AT BUTTERWORTH
The Operation/Regulatory Department of Penang Port Commission comprising the Engineering, Marine, Security and Fire Services, Dangerous Goods as well as Trafic and Ferry departments is now centralized at Suite 1, 11th Floor, NB Tower, 5050 Jalan Bagan Luar 12000 Butterworth, Penang. Port users can contact the Unit at 604-3238532/3332930/3240182 and faxs 604-3243416/3240166.
PPC RETAINS MS ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFICATION
Penang Port Commission has received recertification of its MS ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System following the sucessful completion of the surveillance and reassesment audits in December 2009.
The audit were first conducted internally by the Internal Quality Audit Team an 16 and 17 December 2009 and later by the SIRIM QAS International Sdn. Bhd. official, Mr. Fadzil Ishak on 23 and 24 December 2009.
