The original deadline was extended following a large response from local firms.

The General Organisation of Sea Ports says a committee will now begin evaluating the applications and will announce the companies it has chosen by the end of July.

When complete, the zone will be integrated with Bahrain’s new Khalifa bin Salman port, which will have a container capacity of 2.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

The General Organisation of Sea Ports says it wants to attract businesses that can provide a full range of logistics services, to complement operations at the port.