Has Miri Port been granted free zone status?

Not according to the most recent state account. Sarawak proposed free trade zone status for Senari Port and Miri Port in July 2024 and said the federal trade ministry had responded positively. In May 2026 the Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development still told the State Legislative Assembly that the government saw the need to develop free zone areas in Kuching, Bintulu, Samalaju and Miri, which is a statement of intent rather than an approval.

When is the Kuala Baram dredging due to finish?

The contract runs to March 2027, but the state has consistently aimed earlier. In April 2026 the project was about 55 per cent complete and targeted at the fourth quarter of 2026, and in May 2026 the ministry told the assembly it was expected to finish in October 2026.

Why does dredging matter to a free zone at Miri Port?

Shallow access to the terminal has caused what the state describes as severe navigational safety hazards, and has held back industry in the Kuala Baram Industrial Estate. The state says a deeper channel would let the port work at its designated capacity of 3.5 million tonnes of cargo a year. A zone with no berth depth behind it would have little to handle.

How deep will Miri Port be once the works are done?

The Premier said in April 2026 that once the North Bank and South Bank structures are complete, depth at the port could reach 10 metres, which he described as enough for large vessels including cruise ships. The two flushing bunds themselves run six kilometres out into water more than 25 metres deep.

What else is Sarawak building around its ports?

A single state port authority is being set up as the sole regulator for every port in Sarawak, including Bintulu Port once its federal handover is finalised, with the existing port authorities to be corporatised in phases. A Borneo Oil and Gas Supply Base is intended to strengthen Bintulu, and a deep-sea port and gas terminal at Tanjung Embang planned with PETROS is expected to start its first phase in 2032.

Miri Port free zone: what is proposed, what is built

Sarawak has been asking the federal government to turn Miri Port into a free zone since July 2024, and no such zone has been approved there yet. What is being built at Kuala Baram in the meantime is the thing any zone would depend on: a RM208.9 million job to deepen the sea approach to the port. Until that channel takes bigger ships, the port cannot use the cargo capacity it already has on paper.

What Sarawak has asked the federal government for

The request has been put twice.

In July 2024, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, who is also Sarawak's Minister for International Trade, Industry and Investment, proposed that Senari Port in Kuching and Miri Port be designated free trade zones, saying the federal Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry had responded positively and that the same need existed at Bintulu Port and Samalaju Port.
Two months later, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Port Development listed its proposals for Miri Port under the 12th and 13th Malaysia Plans. Among the main ones were a free zone and a deep-sea port at Kuala Baram, which the ministry expected to be ready in 2030.

By May 2026 it was still an intention rather than a decision. Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Port Development Dato Majang Renggi told the State Legislative Assembly that the government saw the need to develop free zone areas in Kuching, Bintulu, Samalaju and Miri, to raise value-added activity and draw export-oriented investment.

Why the channel has to be deepened first

The constraint at Miri Port is the water, not the wharf. Shallow access to the terminal has created what the state calls severe navigational safety hazards, and has held back industry in the Kuala Baram Industrial Estate and the northern zone generally. Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who holds the infrastructure and port portfolio, said in December 2024 that a deeper channel would let the port work at its designated capacity of 3.5 million tonnes of cargo a year.

Sarawak Transport Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin said in March 2025 that the waters off Miri are among the busiest shipping lanes in the state, including for oil and gas operations, and that the Tanjong Lobang lighthouse and the delta channel both needed their navigation aids upgraded.

Where the dredging has got to

The work is being done by a joint venture of Rimbun Prima Sdn Bhd and China Communications Construction Company (M) Sdn Bhd. The package includes two training bunds six kilometres long, built out into water more than 25 metres deep, which flush the channel so that it does not silt up again.

December 2024 — 3.5 per cent ahead of schedule, with roughly 300 metres of bund built, and the Deputy Premier already asking for the March 2027 completion date to be beaten.
March 2025 — 5 per cent complete, with the Transport Minister telling Miri business leaders the works could turn it into a deep-sea port.
April 2026 — about 55 per cent of the physical work done, ahead of schedule, with completion targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.
May 2026 — the ministry told the assembly the job was expected to finish in October 2026.

What the new land is supposed to become

Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg visited the site in April 2026. Once the North Bank and South Bank works are finished, he said, depth at the port could reach 10 metres, enough for large vessels including cruise ships. The bunds should also reduce wave action and build up new coastal land through sedimentation — a concept he called a “mini Shanghai” in Miri — which could then be developed as an industrial and commercial area supporting the oil and gas industry with logistics and support services.

Bernama reported the Premier the same day saying the state would facilitate oil and gas support services in northern Sarawak, with RM30 million allocated for a support base initiative, and that Miri Port would work as a northern export gateway complementing Bintulu. More from the division is in our Miri guide.

Who will be regulating the port by then

The rules are changing at the same time as the water. Sarawak is setting up a single state port authority to replace the existing port authorities as the sole regulator for every port in the state, including Bintulu Port once its handover from the federal government is finalised. The existing authorities are to be corporatised in phases and ports clustered by function.

How Miri fits the wider plan

The free zone idea is not specific to Miri. In May 2025 Uggah set out a Sarawak Ports Master Plan on four pillars — governance, port and free-zone infrastructure, economic diversification and regional connectivity — modelled on Jebel Ali in Dubai, which attracts more than 11,000 companies and accounts for 36 per cent of that emirate’s GDP. Two other projects sit behind it: a Borneo Oil and Gas Supply Base to strengthen Bintulu, and a deep-sea port and gas terminal at Tanjung Embang planned with PETROS, whose first phase is expected to begin operating in 2032.

The sequence to watch is simple. The channel is due this year, the new land follows it, and the free-zone designation remains a request rather than a decision.