“The reopening of the sea route after a gap of more than a quarter of a century would help further ease the traffic congestion on King Fahd Causeway, the only way to link between the two kingdoms. This would also be a major impetus toward boosting bilateral trade exchange and traffic movement,” Al-Riyadh newspaper reported quoting a statement issued by the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Saudi Shoura Council's Committee on Transport, Communications and Information Technology also recommended the reopening of the seaport during the presentation of the Saudi Ports Authority's annual report recently. Moreover, a meeting of the Joint Business Council, comprised of representatives from both the Saudi and the Bahrain chambers of commerce and industry, also discussed the topic for the first time.
The Bahrain chamber, in a statement, saw the reopening of the sea route as “inevitable to further boost the economic ties and cement the brotherly relationship between the two countries.” It further stated that it was “high time to have new ways and means to link between the two countries as well as to exchange benefits on the economic and tourism fronts.” The chamber also highlighted the significance of reopening the seaport in the wake of the new developments that contributed substantially to strengthening bilateral ties on all fronts, especially the political and economic ones. The statement further noted that launching of the project would be a milestone in the mutual cooperation between the chamber and the Saudi Ports Authority.
Dr. Esam Abdullah Fakhro, chairman of Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, met with Director General of Saudi Ports Authority Hassan Ali Al-Majed recently. Reopening the sea route figured mainly in their talks, according to informed sources. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Fakhro said that the growing number of passengers and increased traffic of goods between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia through King Fahd Causeway had mounted heavy pressure on the lone sea route. The best way to ease this was to reopen the old sea route between Bahrain and Al-Khobar seaport, he said.
According to Dr. Al-Fakhro, the reopening of the sea route involved a number of factors, such as carrying out studies about the types of ferries to be used, the goods to be transported, depth and length of the ship channel, and the location for setting up a seaport in the northern region of Bahrain. Other factors concerned security, safety and environmental aspects. He also noted the readiness of Saudi Ports Authority to make available of experts and technicians for holding talks with the Bahrain chamber officials prior to starting comprehensive studies in this respect.
The value of Saudi exports to Bahrain reached SR35.4 billion in 2008 against SR11.5 billion in 2004. The value of Saudi imports from Bahrain in the same period rose from SR1.9 to SR4.4 billion. The Saudi – Bahrain joint ventures in the Kingdom is amounted to SR13 billion.
