A new Malaysian shipping hub will open next month to help international companies operating in the Southeast Asian nation manufacture and export their products more efficiently, officials said Monday. The Port Klang Free Zone in Malaysia's key western harbor district recently underwent successful power supply tests and is now finishing its landscaping and road construction, officials representing the zone said in a statement. The 1,000-acre (400-hectare) site has been touted as Malaysia's first free zone to combine shipping logistics activities, such as labeling and packaging, with factories and industrial manufacturing operations. Norwegian oil and gas engineering group Aker Kvaerner ASA is the first investor in the zone. It plans to invest up to 400 million ringgit (US$111 million; €88 million) to build a manufacturing center to support oil and gas exploration in the Asia Pacific, the statement said. "We have had many more successful discussions and are in the midst of finalizing agreements with potential tenants," Noel Gulliver, the zone's general manager, said in the statement. Incentives for companies based in the hub — modeled after Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone — include tax exemptions and research incentives, it said. The statement didn't reveal the exact date for the site's opening.
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