Pasir Gudang is Johor’s most well-known industrial city, located east of Johor Bahru. Given its location by the Straits of Johor, major industries associated with Pasir Gudang include transportation and logistics, shipbuilding, and petrochemical. Heavy industries such as the storage and distribution of palm oil are also carried out in the area.

Before becoming an important industrial city, Pasir Gudang started out as a group of 5 villages in 1918. By 1920, another 4 villages were established. Many of the villages were located where major infrastructure now stand, such as Kampung Air Biru and Kampung Pasir Merah, which are now the port of Pasir Gudang’s location.

The name of Pasir Gudang comes from the sand-mining activities in the area early on, where much of the sand was stored (“gudang” meaning storage place) before being exported to Singapore. Agriculture was a also a large part of Pasir Gudang’s economy, where Chinese businessmen began cultivating black pepper and catechu in the middle of the 19th century on the beds of rivers in area. The British also opened a number of large estates for rubber plantations in the turn of the 20th century. It was only in 1977 that the Johor Port was built, while housing estates and industrial properties were planned for the area to make it an industrial town.

Pasir Gudang is set to undergo a major facelift, with mega developments planned for the city, given its location which falls under the eastern zone of Iskandar Malaysia. Premier developer, Mah Sing has begun the development of the Meridian East township, which will span 531.3 acres, offering residences and commercial properties. Chinese firm, Greenland Group has also set sights on Pasir Gudang, with a vision to bring a “Gold Coast” concept to the seaside city.

Currently, accessibility from Johor Bahru to Pasir Gudang is via the Pasir Gudang Highway, and the coastal JB East Coast Highway. The journey into JB via either route will take about 30 minutes, but traffic is known to be congested during peak hours. There are also plenty of busses which travel from the JB city centre to different parts of Pasir Gudang, and vice versa. Plans for a water taxi between the city port to Singapore is also under consideration, which will bring renewed connectivity to the port city.