Local port operator DP World has awarded Bam International of the Netherlands the estimated AED370m ($100m) contract to design and build the causeway, bridge and quay wall serving the future Terminal 4 at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port.

The scope of the contract includes the construction of 400 metres of quay wall. It also includes a 420-metre bridge and causeway to link the new terminal being built on an island of reclaimed land to the main port.

Two other firms were competing for the contract. They were the local/Belgian Belhasa Six Construct and India’s Afcons.

The deal is the first major contract to be awarded at Jebel Ali port since 2012, when a joint venture of Japan’s Toa and France’s Soletanche Bachy was selected for the AED700m ($190m) contract to build Terminal 3 at Jebel Ali port in May. The terminal will add 4 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of capacity to the port when it is completed in 2014.

The expansion of Terminal 2 was completed in late June. Archirodon Construction won the AED150m contract to expand the terminal in February 2012. The expansion of Terminal 2 adds a further 1 million TEUs, and by 2014, the port will have a total capacity of 19 million TEUs.

The reclaimed island intended to be used for Terminal 4 has the potential to add a further 10 million TEUs to the overall long-term port capacity.