UAE’s Sharjah Ports Authority (SPA) has invited firms to bid by 13 July for the contract to retro-fit and expand Port Khalid, one of the three ports located in the emirate.

Contractors expected to bid for the contract include:

• National Marine Dredging Corporation (UAE)
• Dutco Balfour Beatty (local/UK)
• China Harbour Engineering Company (China)

The package is part of the port’s expansion initiatives.

There is an ongoing work to deepen the water depth at the port’s five major container berths to 12 metres.

Last year, Belgium’s Besix was selected for the contract to build a new berth at the port.

To be executed within 18 months, the scope of the project is includes dredging of the port basin and the construction of a cargo loading facility, a quay wall, marine rock revetment on the seaward perimeter of the reclamation area, and other related facilities.

US-based CH2M Hill is project consultant.

Port Khalid has five main container berths, which together can handle an estimated 750,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo annually.

Sharjah’s three ports are strategically located. Port Khalid, along with Hamriya Port, are situated on the Gulf coast, while Sharjah’s third port in Khor Fakkan is located on the coastline of the Indian Ocean.