Brunei for ICTSI

The Sultanate of Brunei plans to expand its only container port as part of the country’s effort to become a transhipment hub in South East Asia.

ICTSI has taken over Brunei’s Muara Container Terminal, staking a strategic presence in the country’s only deepwater port and principal gateway where Singapore’s PSA Corp Ltd once operated.

It looks as though ICTSI will be awarded the contract to operate a new container terminal to be developed in the Sultanate of brunei

Singapore-based Overseas Port Management (OPM) and ICTSI of the Philippines are among the eight contenders bidding to take over the management of the Muara Container Terminal (MCT) in Brunei after PSA International handed the operation back to the government last month. The other bidders are reported to be Bruneian companies.

Singapore has retained its title as the world’s No 1 container port for the second year by handling 24.8M TEU in 2006, up 7%.

The government of Brunei Darussalam is offering to put up 70% of the construction cost in a bid to find a backer for a new container terminal. Brunei has long been mooted as a location for a major transhipment hub and the government has already given the PSA a concession to operate the Muara container terminal.