Hamad Port is preparing for a second and third container terminal expansion even as it completes construction on its QR27bn ($7.3bn) first phase. Speaking at MEED’s 4^th annual Qatar Transport Forum in Doha on 16 September, Tim Verdon, programme director at Hamad Port, said that tenders for the design contracts for the two terminals would be issued soon.

The addition of a second and third container terminal at Hamad Port, which was formerly called the New Port Project (NPP), will increase annual handling capacity to 6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) by 2020, up from the 2 million TEUs capacity the facility will have when it opens at the end of 2016.

According to Verdon, who is also a vice president of US consultancy firm Aecom, 60 out of 85 separate packages have been awarded on the first phase of the giant project, which comprises three main elements: the shipping terminal and associated facilities; the naval base; and the third Qatar Economic Zone (QEZ3).

About QR7bn worth of work is remaining on the project, with the majority of this on the naval base, which in addition to berths and military facilities for 5,000 personnel, includes a barracks, emiri yacht club, and officer club and mess. The three main buildings packages on the base are either in tender or under evaluation.

Excavation of QEZ3 is complete and flooding is under way, with works expected to be finished by February 2016. The zone’s access channel and ship handling facilities have been designed to handle smaller craft such as dhows and coasters.

For the port itself, the client is now focusing on topside work and the procurement of equipment. In addition to the first container terminal, the project comprises a coast guard facility, and general cargo and multi-use terminals. Plans for a cruise terminal at the port have been dropped. Instead the government is now looking at moving it closer to Doha.  

The overall project has set a number of records, including the largest ever fender contract, while more pre-cast blocks were used in the quay wall than in the Egyptian pyramids.

The project’s engineering design consultant is Australia’s WorleyParsons. Aecom is the project management consultant, while Denmark’s Cowi is the environmental consultant.