DELEGATES attending this year‘s TOC Middle East conference to be held in Dubai on December 8-9 will learn that ports in Saudi Arabia are making rapid progress towards becoming world scale, world class facilities.
Saudi Arabia‘s ports are undergoing a period of transformation. A growing middle class and youthful demographic profile has provided the impetus for the Kingdom to generate heavy investment in state-of-the-art container facilities, whereas in the past most of its ports were designed to handle bulk liquids and project cargoes to support the trade in crude oil.
To provide top class commercial facilities, Saudi Ports Authority has embarked on a privatisation programme, working closely with private sector investors and operators to ready the country‘s port sector for today‘s shipping landscape, a statement from the conference organisers said.
The Saudi government has also announced plans to invest US$30 billion in upgrading port and other related logistics facilities to enhance the capacity of the Kingdom‘s ports as more ultra large container vessels (ULCVs) are expected to call.
Jeddah Islamic Port (JIP) is on the way to becoming a major maritime hub on the Red Sea. Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT), which opened in 2009, has added 1.8 million TEU of capacity, and regularly handles calls by mega ships.
Two other large terminals are also located in Jeddah Islamic Port. Dubai‘s DP World operates the South Container Terminal and while Sharjah-based Gulftainer operates the port‘s largest container facility, Northern Container Terminal (NCT).
JIP faces competition, however, from King Abdullah Port (KAP), 100 kilometres to the north of Jeddah. KAP is the first privately owned and funded Saudi port. The port‘s existing capacity is three million TEU, but the port master plan projects capacity of 20 million TEU by 2025.
PORTS
04 December 2015 - 22:32
Saudi ports to take centre stage at TOC Middle East conference in Dubai
DELEGATES attending this year‘s TOC Middle East conference to be held in Dubai on December 8-9 will learn that ports in Saudi Arabia are making rapid progress towards becoming world scale, world class facilities.
PORTS
04 December 2015 - 22:32
Saudi ports to take centre stage at TOC Middle East conference in Dubai
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