Saudi to build US$445 million container terminal at Jeddah

CONSTRUCTION of the Saudi Trade and Export Development Company's (Tusdeer) Red Sea Gateway Terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port (JIP) will begin in January, it was announced.

The SAR1.66 billion (US$445.6 million) Red Sea Gateway Terminal will have an annual container handling capacity of 1.5 million TEU, a draft of 18 metres for handling next-generation containerships and have two berths, a 735-metre main berth and 310 metre feeder berth.

The new terminal is scheduled to begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2009. "The berths will have their own dedicated channel to the main JIP approach channel," Aamer Alireza, CEO of Red Sea Gateway Terminal said in a report on AME Info, a UAE-based Middle East business news portal.

Tusdeer awarded the civil works contract to China Harbour Engineering Company and expects 22 months of the dredging of a new 16.5 metre approach channel to the terminal as well as the construction of the quay wall and land reclamation.

The Tusdeer facility will be the third container terminal for Jeddah Islamic Port and it is expected to boost the port's container handling capacity by more than 45 per cent and strengthen its status as a regional logistics hub as it will be integrated with the Tusdeer Bonded Re-export Zone and linked to Saudi's new intermodal Land Bridge, the report said.

The container handling equipment for the new terminal will be supplied by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Limited (ZPMC) and delivered in three phases, starting from May 2009. The equipment includes eight ship-to-shore cranes that will be able to twin-lift 40-foot containers and 26 rubber-tyre cranes.

The report added that it will be the first private build, operate and transfer container terminal project in Saudi Arabia.