A series of papers highlighting Saudi Arabia’s rapid seaport infrastructure development and overall investment in transport and logistics have been presented to up to 300 delegates at the first Saudi Maritime Congress.
The two-day summit heard that the number of mega infrastructural land and sea projects planned and currently in progress total more than $30 billion within the Saudi government’s current five-year plan.
Speaking at the event, Hassan Abouraya, consultant engineer, business development, international marketing and risk management executive at Zamil Offshore Services discussed the urgent requirement for a large repair facility of the Red Sea Coast.
“On the Red Sea, there are more than 25,000 merchant vessels navigating North and South,” he commented.
“Only two old repair yards with limited docking capabilities are available in Jeddah and Suez. There is room for at least one world class ship repair yard to be built.”
Zamil Offshore has plans for a joint venture project to build a large shipyard on the Red Sea coast to repair VLCC tankers up to suezmax size and shipbuilding capabilities up to 20,000 deadweight tonnage (dwt).
Saudi-based Bahri and Aramco have also signed an MOU with Singapore-based engineering company Sembcorp Marine, to conduct a feasibility study to build a world class shipyard in Saudi Arabia capable of the design, building and repair of very large merchant vessels.
Held under the patronage of H.E. Jabara bin Eid Al Suraiseri, Saudi Arabian Minister of Transport and chairman of Saudi Ports Authority, the event concluded yesterday at the Sheraton Dammam Hotel & Towers
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