Jubail Commercial Port keen to support petchem exports

More financial and administrative independence would help Jubail Commercial Port (JCP) to achieve more progress, its general manager told a business gathering recently.
Capt. Fahed Ahmed Amer, general manager of Jubail Commercial Port (JCP), was Asharqia chamber’s guest at its recent meeting.
Amer highlighted key issues and important plans that he assured could develop the port.
“If the Saudi Ports Authority will give ports the financial and administrative independence, it would actually provide a big leap to development of ports,” he said.
“It will also encourage competition among other ports in the world and especially in Asia. The port is undergoing a continuous development process and our target is to dedicate all efforts to make the port the main gateway for Saudi exports to the international markets,” he said.
JCP recorded a 47 percent increase in the number of containers and there are 16 operating docks. He confirmed that land slots at the JCP are leased to many top companies such as Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Chevron, Sipchem and some other local companies.
“The port currently supervises the Jubail fishing harbor in Jubail and there are some developments in the process of serving the fish sector,” Amer said. He also highlighted the development of projects at JCP to provide a separate way for trucks to link the port to the industrial zone.
The projects are being implemented by the Royal Commission.
Amer expected that the operating capacity at JCP will increase compared to previous years because of the expansion of the stations and the increasing number of specialized equipment.
“The handling capacity in the current year is nearly 9 million tons and 300,000 containers,” he added.
Amer said the railway project is nearing completion. It will connect the port with the industrial zone. He said a meeting had been planned for next week with key company representatives to discuss the project and more details would be reviewed. What distinguishes the port from is that the procedures of exporting goods are easy and much of its work is to export goods abroad.”
He said: “There will be a giant logistics project by SABIC which will make JCP the main exporting gateway in the Kingdom for petrochemical products (polymers).”