A case study on seismic loading for North Butterworth Container Terminal, Penang Port / Ahmad Badli Badaruddin

Many ports around the world lie on seismically active areas. In such cases port
structures should be able to withstand earthquake loading and be design accordingly.
Port which is integral part of economic life of a nation cannot be left unused or
damaged due to earthquake. This study focused on the important to comprehend and
to improve the understanding of how the port design has considered earthquake
parameter in the port foundation. It will also allow good practice to be recommended
based on the available design. North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT) is one
of the key ports in Malaysia for northern area that supporting the economic and the
transportation system. NBCT are selected as focus on this study. The design
consideration data was collected to compare with other Malaysia port which is Port
of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) and overseas port which one of it is Tokachi Port. The
seismic parameter show that Malaysian Engineer should start the research and study
on earthquake design consideration because there is a possibility to face the
earthquake according to the experience by Mexico City Earthquake that provides
almost similarly design coefficient of Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) and greater
distance from the epicenter compare to NBCT and PTP.