MIDDLE EAST

Third Jeddah box terminal confirmed

20 years ago

The Saudi Trade & Export Development Company (Tusdeer) and Seaport Terminal of Malaysia, which helped established the successful transhipment port of Tanjung Pelepas, have signed a joint venture agreement to develop a third container terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port (JIP).The Malaysian company will hold a 20% stake in the project. To finance the deal, Malaysian businessman Syed Mokhtar Al- Bukhary is to transfer $457m into his publicly-listed MMC Corporation, of which Seaport Terminal is a majority shareholder (51.8%).

The $443m development, which will take three years to implement, will boost capacity at JIP by 45%. Covering an area of 400,000 sq m, it will be able to handle vessels of up to 13,000 teu thanks to a 16.5m deep access channel and draught at the berths of up to 18m.The 2m teu/year facility will be equipped with super-post-panamax quayside lift capability.

Dredging is due to commence in mid- 2007 now that marine surveys and soil testing have been completed. An award is scheduled to be made in early 2008 in respect of the design and engineering contract. Four international companies have already submitted bids, with the eventual winner also to oversee the implementation of the project.

Edaw/Aecom is to draw up the overall master plan covering a period of 30 years, while Maunsell of Australia has been contracted to look into ways
of linking the terminal with the proposed “Land Bridge” rail scheme, which will link Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea and Arabian Gulf coasts.