Dubai-based port operator DP World has received bids from contractors for the contract to build Terminal 3 at Jebel Ali port.

The contract involves the construction of 1,600 metres of new quay wall at quay 10 on the existing West Wharf area.

The prequalifiers include Geneva-registered Archirodon Construction, the local/Belgian Bel Hasa Six Construct, China Harbour, the local/UK Dutco Balfour Beatty, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Brazil’s Odebrecht, Turkey’s STFA and Japan’s Toa.

The contract involves the construction of 1,600 metres of new quay wall at quay 10

In February, DP World awarded Archirodon Construction the estimated AED150m contract to build the expansion of Terminal 2 at Jebel Ali Port. Those works involve the construction of 400m of new quay wall that will increase the capacity of Terminal 2 by about 1 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

The current capacity at Jebel Ali port, which is the busiest in the region, is 15 million TEUs a year. Terminal 1 can handle 10 million TEUs and Terminal 2 can handle 5 million.

The expansion works at the port coincide with DP World settling its debts. In March, it said it will repay a $3bn loan six months ahead of its maturity and raise a new $1bn facility. It said banks had already committed funding for the new five-year $1bn loan.

The opening of Terminal 2 in 2008 was the last major expansion at the port. It has a capacity of 5 million TEUs and is equipped with 29 Super Post Panamax gantry cranes and 60 rail-mounted gantries (RMG). Hyundai completed the construction work and Belgium’s Jan de Nul completed the dredging works for the terminal.