TIBAR Bay Port in Timor-Leste has welcomed maiden calls from two vessels as part of the new port’s operational trials.  

Tibar Bay Port was built recently to alleviate congestion building around Port of Dili, the only international port in the small nation until now.

Mariana Express Lines (MELL) announced it vessels Kota Dunia and Selatan Damai successfully called the new deep-water port over two days between 14 and 16 September. MELL is a subsidiary of Pacific International Lines.

Over the two-day operational test phase, the port reportedly handled nearly 1000 containers from both ships using the terminal’s digital operating systems.

MELL said the new port aims to deliver performance and productivity comparable with the largest seaports in the world.

With new optimised port call practices, the future port call process in is expected to be shorter, more efficient and more sustainable with new, optimised port call practices.

MELL general manager Lee Chin Giaf said the shipping company has been calling Timor-Leste for more than a decade.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to show our commitment to the growth of Timor by deploying two of our vessels to participate in the testing of the country’s new world-class facility,” he said.

“We look forward to working closely with Timor Port and Bolloré Ports on the successful development and launch of the new port as part of its ambition to drive stronger economic growth for the country.”

Laurent Palayer, CEO of Timor Port and Bolloré Logistics East Timor said MELL and Bolloré Port have had a long-standing relationship over the past decade.

“With the opening of Timor Bay, we will further strengthen our partnership to bring economic progress to Timor-Leste.”

And Tonnie Lim, chief trade officer at PIL, said MELL has enabled its parent company to specialise in niche shipping routes within the Asia Pacific region.

“Timor, with its central location in Asia and proximity to the large Asian market of Indonesia, has immense development potential,” Mr Lim said.

“PIL and MELL are confident that Timor will continue to grow from strength to strength and we stand ready to meet the needs of our customers for enhanced connectivity to Timor and other parts of Asia.”  

Plans for the Tibar Bay facility originated from talks in 2016 between the Timor-Leste government and Timor Ports, a subsidiary of Bolloré Ports, who agreed port congestion at Port of Dili was increasing.

The new port is located around 10 kilometres to the west of Dili.