Bubshait said that studies for the privatization of Saudi ports have already been carried out by the Ports Authority. Based on these studies, an independent entity will be given the responsibility to run the seaports, he added.

On Sunday, Transport Minister Jabara Al-Seraisry said that his ministry was currently studying the construction of a new port at Al-Lith on the Red Sea coast. "Studies are currently underway to construct a new sea port in Al-Lith as a backup for the Jeddah Islamic Port in the Makkah Province," he told the inaugural session of the forum.

Al-Seraisry said the government has spent more than SR40 billion on the establishment and development of a number of commercial and industrial ports on the coasts of the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

"There are now eight ports — six commercial and two industrial ports — in addition to a ninth one under construction," Al-Seraisry said.

The second day of the forum saw a number of presentations by shipping industry officials and experts drawn from Saudi Arabia and abroad. There were four sessions in which 13 papers were presented.

While the first session covered the economic development of the shipping industry, the second session was devoted to shipping markets, the third to ports and container shipping and the fourth to finance and investment.

Chief Executive Officer of Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) Amer Alireza said in his presentation that his group had kept its promise, made at the Maritime Forum 2008, by opening its doors to commercial operation in less than two years after first breaking the ground. RSGT, launched in December 2009, is the first privately managed transfer build-operate-transfer container terminal at the Jeddah Islamic Port.

He said the opening of the facility was a challenge as the world economy was facing the worst recession. "But we knew that investing ahead of time would in turn enhance trade when the tide turned. We had the conviction that the world containerization business would still grow, particularly in young markets such as ours," he said.

Sunil Joseph, managing director of Mercantile Shipping Agencies Limited, agents for Maersk Line, said in his paper that he was very excited to play a part in the development as a result of the economic leap in Saudi Arabia.

He said Saudi Arabia's total container volume has risen by about 13 percent annually from 1998. He added that considering the rising demand due to massive developments planned, Saudi Arabian ports would be at a par with some of the key regional players with the next six years.

Referring to the rail network being developed to connect the eastern part of Saudi Arabia to the Western Region, Joseph said that the "landbridge" would bring revolutionary changes by reducing the transportation time between Europe, North America and the GCC via Jeddah by more than a week, ensuring faster delivery of goods.

He also talked about introducing air-sea and sea-air shipment facilities that needs to be developed. "It's already in operation in Dubai and Salalah in Oman. Jeddah is strategically positioned better than those locations for this option," he said.

Organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with the Al-Faris Group for Conferences and Exhibitions, the Maritime Forum has attracted a "good number of people," said Tarek Al-Marzouki, chairman of the forum's Organizing Committee. He said 30 delegates from all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, were attending the forum, which was satisfactory in the current global economic situation. He told Arab News more delegates would have come but for technical problems including failure to stamp visas on time.

According to him, the morning session began with 300 people in attendance. He said Saudi ports were doing much better than the rest of the world. Saudi ports registered a 3.43 percent growth in the first quarter of 2010. Al-Marzouki expected the second quarter to be even better as he believed the Maritime Forum would have a positive impact on the overall business in the region.