New Al-Faw port project

Up to 100 berths will be built by a consortium headed by Technital, enabling around 99m tonnes to be handled annually.

The $6bn facility will be served by a brand-new railway system and will offer a draft of 17 metres, allowing the largest vessels afloat to dock there, where they will offload cargo onto the railway system allowing goods to reach Europe faster than ships passing through the Suez Canal.

It will be built in two three-year phases and eventually offer 7,000 metres of dock for containers and 3,500 metres for general cargo.

The hope is that it will become the 10th most important port in the world, connecting the Gulf with northern Europe.