The Saudi Port Authority and King Abdul Aziz Port plan to spend $914mn on port development in the Kingdom as the demand for increased capacity rises; it was announced earlier this week.
Saudi Arabia will see its maritime sector grow over the next few years according to a report by Drewry Maritime Research. The increased economic activity will be reflected in container activity in the Kingdom, which accounted for 20% (or 5.69 million TEUs) of regional throughput in 2011, the report explained.
The SPA plans to spend $164m on development, a report in the Saudi Gazette has said. This will include a $51mn power plant which will be developed at King Abdulaziz Port in Damman to raise power generation capacity from 50MW to 120MW. 
In addition, the authority will build a new container terminal in Dhiba Port at a cost of $46mn and two further container terminals at King Fahd Industrial Port in Jubail at a cost of $38mn. Both of these projects are due to be completed by 2014.
According to the report, more than $750mn is being invested into Damman’s King Abdul Aziz Port, with some $535mn set aside for container terminal capacity expansion. This follows a 10% increase in container handling in H1 2012 against 2011 figures. $210mn will be spent on other facilities.
Saudi Global Ports is set to develop a second hi-tech container terminal facility, with a scheduled opening date in 2015. The terminal will have a length of 1,200m and 12 quay cranes, with a designed capacity of 1.8 million TEUs per annum.
