The Red Sea is located between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, bordering Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. It has a length of 2,250 km and a width of 355 km. In 1869 the Red Sea became a route for shipping goods.
Recently Port Technology International sat down with the Business Development Department for the Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT), the new green field terminal project at Saudi Arabia’s main seaport, Jeddah Islamic Port, to ask for a progress report on how the project is shaping up.
Provide us with a little background about the project and the company.
Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) is a limited liability company registered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on August 2007. RSGT (formerly known as the Tusdeer ontainer Terminal) will be a new world-class container facility at Jeddah Islamic Port. Due to open by the end of 2009, this privately managed deepwater terminal, together with the adjacent Tusdeer Bonded & Re-export Zone, will form a major integrated logistics hub for the Red Sea region.
The facility is designed to serve the new generation of oceangoing containerships, and will have a 1,045 m quay with a depth alongside of 18.0 m. It is approached by its own dedicated navigation channel and will be served by state-of-the art equipment and infrastructure.
The customer-oriented approach to creating Jeddah’s third deep sea container terminal by the dynamic RSGT team, has involved detailed consultation with shipping lines and other customers on all aspects of its design. This proactive collaboration provides cuttingedge solutions to offer fast vessel turnarounds that will deliver an
annual throughput of 1.5 million teu per year.
The good news is that we are now beginning to reap the fruits of careful preparation, as construction has progressed rapidly at the site following the arrival of major marine construction equipment from China – with the general layout and other features becoming more visible day by day. Red Sea Gateway Terminal will be the first grass-roots private container terminal in Saudi Arabia. The new facility will enhance Jeddah Islamic Port overall capability through its layout, design, stateof-the art equipment and high container handling productivity.
This deepwater terminal will serve the new generation of ocean – going containerships, which will be able to enter through a dedicated navigation channel and its wide turning basin.The objective of this new project is consistent with the vision of the Saudi government, to encourage the private sector to play an effective role in establishing and developing transportation infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.
We are also proud indeed to announce our success in the Financing front in which has been honoured with the prestigious IFN Ijara Deal of the year and best project financing deal, and Euromoney’s Middle East Transport Deal of the year award in 2007.
In May we were also pleased to welcome Saudi transport minister, Dr. Jubara Al Suraisri to see for himself the construction work in progress at the site. He was impressed by the efforts of our highly professional team in managing the project, and who are still working hard to make the Red Sea Gateway Terminal ‘Shining Star’, in the world shipping industry.
