JEDDAH, 5 September 2006 — The Jeddah Islamic Port reported an 18.5 percent increase in volume in 2005 over the previous year, the port announced yesterday.
“The main driver behind this growth was the increase in transshipment volume, which grew 26.4 percent,” said a statement issued by the port’s management.
An increase in domestic spending due to the boom in oil revenues has also increased imports. The port handled 2.87 million TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, last year, up from 2.42 million TEUs in 2004. About 1.48 million TEUs were transshipped and the rest comprised primarily imported consumer goods and construction materials.
The Saudi Ports Authority announced that the port in Jeddah handled 39.5 million tons last year, a 10.25 percent increase from the previous year. Of this sum, 26.7 million tons consisted of imported goods while 12.8 million tons were loaded commodities consisting mainly of refined products, petrochemicals and liquefied gas.
The trade periodical Cargo Systems recently issued a report on last year’s top ports. The port of Jeddah ranked 27th in the world in terms of volume, up from 30th place the previous year. The port is the largest in the Middle East outside of Dubai. The publication predicts that the volume of the port will breach 3 million TEUs this year.
The port currently has two terminals, one in the south, operated by Siyanco-DP World, and the other in the northern portion, operated by Gulf Stevedoring & Contracting Co.
An agreement was signed in May to build an SR1.66-billion ($442.6-million) third terminal at the port with an annual volume capacity of 1.5 million TEUs.
The Saudi Commercial & Export Development Co. (Tusdeer) will construct the terminal on a build-operate-transfer basis. Tusdeer is a subsidiary of Saudi Industrial Services Co. (Sisco).