The Port of Port Klang is a seaport on the estuary of the Klang River, located in the Malaysian town of Port Klang and the neighboring island of Pulau Indah. The port officially began operations in 1901, at which time the port was known as Port Swettenham. The port has three distinct port areas — North port, South port (Southpoint) and West port. Also under the port are Kapar Energy Ventures (KPS) Jetty and Port Klang Cruise Terminal. The Port of Port Klang's port limits encompasses an area of about 70 square nautical miles covering the waterways at the approaches, inner harbour and navigable rivers within the port.
The port has a natural harbour, consisting of a series of inlets and islands at the mouth of the Klang River. Cargo is handled through container berths, breakbulk, liquid and general cargo berths. It has a maximum depth of 18 metres (59 ft), and can accommodate panamax and capsize vessels. The port has a maximum draft of 17.5 metres (57 ft) metres, allowing entry to container ships of up to 260,000 deadweight. The port has two navigational channels — Pulau Angsa (North) and Pintu Gedong (South), with a combined length of 13.3 nautical miles (24.6 km).
The port has trade links with more than 120 countries, and dealings with more than 500 ports worldwide. It handled more than 14 million TEUs of containers in 2023, more than half of which were transshipment containers.
Infrastructure
Terminals
South Port
South Port (South Point) has a wharf with 8 berths. Berths are identified by English numerals and alphabets, which may range from English numerals 1 to 7A with English alphabets. There are three types of cargo unloading and loading facilities at the wharf, namely liquid cargo, bulk cargo and breakbulk cargo. The wharf has infrastructure for handling liquid cargoes at berths 1 and 2, bulk cargoes at berth 3 and breakbulk cargoes at remaining berths. According to the design and structure, Berths No-1 and No-2 are capable of handling vessels up to 40,000 DWT, Berth No-3 of 23,000 DWT, Berth No-4 of 20,000 DWT, and Berth No-5, No-6, No-7, and No-7A are of 6,000 DWT.[1][2]
Anchorages
The port has two types of anchorage within the port limits, outer anchorage and inner anchorage. There is one outer anchorage each seaward of the South Channel and the North Channel, which are identified as Outer Anchorage South Channel and Outer Anchorage North Channel. The Outer Anchorage South Channel lies in the Pintu Gedong area to the east and southeast of the South Fairway Buoy, where ships anchor awaiting berthing instructions, and also for ship to ship transfer (STS) activities. However, anchoring of vessels within 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) radius of the South Fairway Buoy is prohibited. On the other hand, The Outer Anchorage North Channel is the recommended anchorage for vessels waiting for pilots about 0.5 nautical miles (0.93 km) before the pilot boarding ground, where the water depths is 15–22 metres (49–72 ft).[3][4]
Four designated anchorages are available within the Inner Harbour, namely the deep water points North, South and Reserve, and the Northshore Anchorage. Each anchorage has restrictions on vessel types including maximum length and maximum draft allowed. Among them, the deep water point North has a maximum draft depth allowed, which is not more than 10 metres (33 ft), and is capable of anchoring ships of a maximum length of 200 metres (660 ft). The deep water point South and Reserved anchorages have a draft of 8 metres (26 ft), and the maximum permitted length of vessels is 180 meters and 120 metres respectively. The Northshore Anchorage has a minimum draft of 4 metres, which can accommodate vessels up to 90 metres. Coastal vessels other than tankers are permitted to anchor in this anchorage.[4][5]
Navigational channels
The Port of Port Klang has two entrances or navigational channels from the sea, Pulau Angsa (North) Channel and Pintu Gedong (South) Channel; whereas the Pulau Angsa Channel is used for Northport bound and Southport bound vessels, and the Pintu Gedong Channel for West Port bound vessels.[1] But the Gedong Channel is deeper than the Pulau Angsa Channel, so the Westport is able to handle larger ships than the Northport.
The 11 nautical mile long Pulau Angasa channel to Northport has a depth of 11.3 meters and a minimum width of 365 meters. The channel is connected to a 4.5 nautical mile long fairway in front of Northport. The fairway has a depth of 15 meters up to berth No-15 and the section in front of berth No-15 to No-21 has a depth of 13 meters.[1] The approach channel to South Port starts at the southern end of this fairway, and is 2.6 nautical miles long and has a minimum width of 210 meters.[1] The depth of this approach channel is 7.5 meters. Vessels with a maximum draft of 15 meters are able to navigate through the Pulau Angasa Channel with tidal support.
Pintu Gedong channel is 2.3 nautical miles long up to Westport, and has a depth of 18 meters and a minimum width of 500 meters.[1] The channel depth increases between 2 meters and 5.5 meters with tidal support;[6] as a result, ships with a maximum draft of 17.5 meters are able to navigate.
