DP World Sokhna has invited contractors to submit bids by 30 August for a contract to build a second basin at Egypt’s Sokhna Port.

The project is part of the long-term expansion of the port, which envisages the establishment of an integrated logistics area and a general cargo terminal.

DP World Sokhna CEO Ajay Singh said in May the port has achieved a 1 per cent market share growth in Egypt’s cargo handling sector in 2016.

Singh has also indicated a plan to introduce new services at the port including passenger transport services and roll-on/roll-off ships before the end of the year.

It is understood that 14 global shipping lines including CGM-SMA, APL, Maersk and Cosco call at the port, which primarily handles goods that are exported or imported by Egypt.

Sokhna Port has a capacity to handle up to 14 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) container and 4 million tonnes of general annually.

Negotiations for another port project in Egypt are under way. Egypt’s Alexandria Port Authority (APA) and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) are currently negotiating the financial terms of the contract to implement a multipurpose terminal at the Alexandria port.

The terminal will have an area of 500,000 square metres, with berths extending 1,800 metres and with a depth of 17 metres.

The scheme is estimated to cost $700m.