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It is hoped that one of the moves it
will make is to dredge the port's access
channel from the current depth of 11.5 metres
to 14.5 metres, thus allowing it to cater
to vessels of up to 8,000 TEU and more.
Importantly, as was outlined by Mr Mansur,
a "revitalised" Penang Port would
be just what is needed to fire up economic
growth in the Northern Corridor Economic
Region (NECR); an ambitious economic development
project launched with uncharacteristic fanfare
and pomp some four years ago to raise living
standards in most of Malaysia's poorer northern
states.
The blueprint then in 2008 was to strategically
place Penang Port in northern Malaysia such
that it doubles up as an effective "linchpin
of choice" to power up growth in the
designated states; so very vital for the
nation's ruling party to retain control
of the government and nation when the next
electoral polls are called.
Continued postponements over dredging
are not just hurting. They have also steadily
chipped away at the very potential that
could have headed the port's way.
Just by how much may become visibly acute
when world trade picks up, which many analysts
are projecting to happen as early as 2014.
And in an era of mega size vessels the last
thing Penang will want is to miss the ball
just when it is getting to look interesting.
Such a fact makes it no more important
than now, to begin the long-delayed dredging
which was mooted as way back as 2008.
For all that has been said, Penang lends
a certain aura.
In the words of the Economist, Penang
first began as a free port in 1786.
By occupying a pole position between
India and China the island naturally drew
merchants and middlemen that by any reckonings
made it the first custom-made city of globalisation.
But that was then - some two centuries
ago when the world hardly knew of the hard
driving spirit of the Chinese and Vietnamese
and whose nations these days have not just
prospered in modern times under the banner
of globalisation, but whose habit of snagging
boxes from Southeast Asian ports have become
all too well documented.
Port operations businesses are heady,
portly matters. It is not just about huge
capital spending.
Apart from environmental impact audits
and so on, competition for continually shrinking
cargo volumes in the world already strained
by the very draining recession of the last
few years, which means that vessel calls
will be fewer and profits lower amid breakneck
competition.
As Malaysia already knows by now, Indonesia
has been stirring economically for a long
time on the back of its one-trillion dollar
economy. And it has not lost sight of the
crucial role seaports play as trade facilitators
thus explaining why it is prepared to spend
millions upon millions on port developments
across its vast archipelago.
It is certainly something to watch out
for and the "sinking feeling"
of not stepping to the Indonesian plate
may be a far more accurate gauge of what
lies ahead for Southeast Asian port operators.
Penang Port had better recognise that
reality.
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