The US$490 million-Tibar Bay Deepwater Port, in Timor-Leste was inaugurated last week by the President of Timor-Leste Jose Ramos Horta and high-ranking officials from the government.
The new platform – which took four years to build – will be operated by the French conglomerate Bollore. It is located 12 kilometres from the capital Dili and aims to improve Timor-Leste's logistics services and respond to current developments in the maritime and port world.
As the first public-private partnership in the country, Bollore said Timor Port is expected to become a regional transhipment hub, in a bid to enhance the country's attractiveness within the Asia-Pacific region and accelerate its economic development.
The port will be able to receive ships of more than 8,000 containers, and vessels sailing from Singapore through the Indonesian archipelago to Australia will be able to call there.
It has a 630 metre-long quay with 16 metres of draught and is equipped with the latest generation of handling equipment, including two STS gantries and four e-RTG gantries manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries.
In its first phase of operation, the port will be able to accommodate 7,500 TEU and handle more than 200,000 TEU per year.
The port, built by China Harbor Engineering Company, started operations in September with the arrival of the vessels Selatan Damai of the Singaporean company Mariana Express Lines (MELL) and Meratus Pematangsiantar of the shipowner Meratus.