As revealed by MEED, the Chinese group was selected ahead of Geneva-registered Archirodon Construction (Overseas), the Italian group Condotte, and Van Oord of the Netherlands (MEED 9:11:07).

Construction of the $443m Red Sea Gateway Terminal will begin in January 2008, and is scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2009. China Harbour’s tasks will include construction of the quay wall, land reclamation and the dredging of a new 16.5 metre approach channel.

The new terminal will increase capacity at the port by 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 5 million TEUs.

The client at the port, Saudi Trade & Export Development Company (Tusdeer), has also signed a contract with Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery to provide the handling equipment for the terminal, which will include eight twin-lift 40 ship-to-shore cranes and 26 rubber-tyred gantries with double lift capability. The equipment will be delivered in three phases, the first due to arrive in May 2009.