The Port of Tanjung Pelepas is a port for container ships located on the eastern mouth of the Pulai River in south-western Johor,
Malaysia. Receiving its maiden vessel on 10 October 1999 on a three-month trial operation, it set a
World record as the fastest growing port with 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containers handled after 571 days of operations. The good performance sealed the port's fate, and it was officially launched by then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, on 13 March 2000.
Facilities:
The current port offers 12 berths totalling 4.32 km of linear wharf length, and a 1.2 million square meters container yard which contains around 200,000 TEU in storage space, 38,000 ground slot and 4,200 reefer points. The berths are serviced by 44 Super Post-Panamax quay cranes, 11 of which have a 22 rows outreach and dual hoist 40’ pick, 30 with 22 rows outreach and twin 20’ lift. The total capacity of the port today is over 9 million TEU per year. 138 rubber tyred gantry cranes, 274 Prime Movers and 361 Trailers operate around the container facility.
Beside being connected directly to the main Malaysian expressways, the port is also linked to rail access which extends into Southern
Thailand with a 4 track rail terminal. A 14 lane gate terminal and 6 lane FTZ ensure a smooth turn around time for import and export containers. The port development area consists of 2,000 acres for the port terminal and 1,000 acres for the free trade zone. The port has a naturally deep harbour with a draft of 15 – 19 metres, and its turning basin of 720 metres allows for ships of any size to turn easily. The entire master plan of the port envisages over 95 berths with 150 million TEU terminal handling capacity making it the only port in South East
Asia with long term potential to handle increasingly growing container traffic. The berths are expected to extend from the mouth of the Pulai River to Malaysia-
Singapore Second Link.
