Saudi
Arabia’s vision for maritime sector growth will be highlighted at
Seatrade Middle East Maritime (SMEM) 2012 as the Saudi Ports
Authority and King Abdul Aziz Port together plan to
spend $914 million on port development in the Kingdom.
According
to a September 2012 survey commissioned
by Seatrade, conducted by Drewry Maritime Research, brisk economic
growth is reflected in container activity in the Kingdom, which
accounted for 20% of regional throughput in 2011, with 5.69 million
TEU.
Among
the Saudi Ports Authority’s $164 million development plans is
a $51 million power
plant, which will be developed at King Abdulaziz Port
in Dammam to raise power
generation capacity from 50 mw to 120 mw.
Also
in the pipeline is a new container terminal in Dhiba Port at a cost
of $46 million and two further container terminals at King Fahd
Industrial Port in Jubail at a cost of $38 million, which are due for
completion by 2014.
More
than $750 million is being invested into the growth of Dammam’s
King Abdul Aziz Port, with $535 million set aside for container
terminal capacity expansion – following a 10% increase in container
handling in H1 2012 against 2011 figures and $213 million for other
facilities.
A
second container terminal is due to open in 2015 with Saudi Global
Ports LLC developing the hi-tech facility, which will have a quay
length of 1,200 metres and 12 quay cranes, with a design capacity of
1.8 million TEUs per annum, upon completion.
“The
southwest of the Kingdom is similarly set to benefit from maritime
investment with a new deep-water facility forming an integral part of
the Jizan Economic City project,” said Chris Hayman, Chairman of
Seatrade, organiser of Seatrade Middle East Maritime, the region’s
premier event for the maritime sector, which takes place in Dubai
from 27-29 November.
One
of the country’s busiest container hubs, Jeddah Islamic Port, saw
volumes increase by more than 20% in 2011, with Drewry
Singapore forecasting handling
of 4.7 million TEUs this year with total capacity of 5.3 million TEU.
According to the Saudi Port
Authority, the port recorded a 5.15% growth in imports
and exports in the first half of the year, rising
to 3.6 million tonnes with total tonnage throughput growth of 29.5%
forecast for 2012, with an average increase of 10.9% per annum
through to 2016.
Growth
at the Red Sea Gateway
Terminal in Jeddah accounted for the handling of
one million TEU in 2011, led by business from the United Arab
Shipping Company and China Shipping
Container Lines, with volumes expected to jump to
1.5 million TEU by the end of this year.
Saudi
Arabian participants at the Seatrade event include Saleh Al-Jasser,
CEO, The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), who is
also a keynote speaker at the opening session of the three-day
conference, as part of a panel of industry leaders from across
the region,
who will discuss the state of the industry and open the floor for
discussion in further conference sessions.
“Saudi
Arabia is also turning to seabound tourism as a valuable economic
driver and Saudi Ports Authority’s plansinclude a $27 million
cruise and leisure vessel terminal to be constructed at Yanbu
Commercial Port,” remarked Hayman.
