
Penang Port Commission ensures evergreen prospects with future-ready facilities
- Penang Port boasts a vibrant talent pool that can match infrastructure upgrades seen to boost tourism in time for Visit Malaysia 2020
Country Business Reports interviews and articles by Discovery Reports
Penang Port has evolved across centuries from a transshipment point of agricultural and mining produce to trading hi-tech electronic products and solar panels over the past 40 years. Since 2009, shortly after George Town – Penang’s capital city – was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site, cruise tourism has boomed, making Penang the No 1 cruise destination in Malaysia.
“If you look through history, the oldest ports around the world are no longer in existence, but Penang remains strong because it has evolved with the times,” says Jeffrey Chew, chairman of the Penang Port Commission (PPC). “We see Penang Port continuing its important role and moving through the tests of time to ensure its economic contribution to Penang and Malaysia.”
As the statutory body overseeing Penang Port since 1956, PPC has kept the port and its expanded facilities attuned to market needs. Comprising a free commercial zone, deep water wharves and modern facilities for containers, bulk cargo and cruise tourism, Penang Port is a strategic hub for trade and tourism on the northwest coast of Malaysia.
The oldest ports around the world are no longer in existence, but Penang remains strong because it has evolved with the times
Positioned as the hub-port for the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle and the Bay of Bengal, Penang Port boasts a vibrant talent pool that can match infrastructure upgrades seen to boost tourism in time for Visit Malaysia 2020. Ongoing expansion will raise the port’s berthing capacity to two cruise liners at the same time, allowing at least 12,000 tourists to come at any given time. This will bring Penang Port’s passenger capacity to 1.8 million every year.
PPC is also expanding commercial areas for increased trade with China and India, and building up a future as the No 1 port in the north and among Malaysia’s top three.
“With the resilience of PPC management and the people in this state, I believe we will be able to embrace new ideas and challenges to keep Penang future-proof and evergreen,” Chew says.
