Print
PDF
Arab National Bank (ANB) has recently signed a credit finance package worth SR 2.683 billion with Huta Marine Works Limited to help finance further construction and development at Saudi Arabia’s new King Abdullah Port (KAP) Project, located north of Jeddah.
Owned by Ports Development Company (PDC) at King Abdullah Economic City, KAP is the first port in the Kingdom to be developed and managed by the private sector. PDC is jointly owned by Huta Marine Works Limited and Emaar, the Economic City.Commenting on the agreement, Dr. Robert Eid, managing director and chief executive officer of ANB, said: “This deal is part of the bank’s continuous efforts to establish a distinctive footprint in the development of the Saudi economy through supporting projects that generate tangible added value to the national economy and the community.”
PDC has ambitious plans for KAP. Eventually the port will cover about 15 square kilometres, have a water depth alongside of 18m and an annual capacity of 20 million teu. Already it is being used by MSC for container transhipment operations, and it is expected to challenge Jeddah’s traditional dominance in this sector. A third berth is due to be completed by the end of this year, boosting annual capacity to about 2.7 million teu. Last month PDC handed over a new terminal operations building to National Container Terminal (NCT). This will be used to manage the operations and planning of the port’s activities.
In another significant development , the port and container terminal automation specialist Identec Solutions has signed a contract to supply its CTAS 7.0 reefer container wireless monitoring system for 2000 refrigerated container slots at KAP. The system will go live later this year and underlines’s PDC’s intention that KAP should be a very high tech facility.
