Japan/French team sign Dubai port expansion deal

24 September 2012

Contract covers construction of Terminal 3 at Jebel Ali port

A joint venture of Japan’s TOA and France’s Soletanche Bachy has formally signed an agreement with Dubai-based port operator DP World to build Terminal 3 at Jebel Ali port.

MEED reported in May DP World’s decision to award the estimated AED700m ($190m) contract to the joint venture.

Under the terms of the contract, the TOA-SoletancheBachy JV will design, construct, commission and equip the terminal infrastructure, including the deepening of the channel depth to accommodate super post-Panamax next generation container ships with a capacity of 18,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units).  

The new terminal is set to have a quay length of 1,860 metres, a draft of 17m and a 0.7-square kilometre storage yard. It is expected to expand capacity at Jebel Ali by 4 million TEUs and will open in 2014, according to DP World.

The current capacity at Jebel Ali port, which is the busiest in the region, is 15 million TEUs a year. Terminal 1 can handle 10 million TEUs and Terminal 2 can handle 5 million.

Other companies that were prequalified for the contract included Geneva-registered Archirodon Construction, the local/Belgian Bel Hasa Six Construct, China Harbour, the local/UK Dutco Balfour Beatty, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Brazil’s Odebrecht, and Turkey’s STFA.

In February, DP World awarded Archirodon Construction the estimated AED150m contract to build the expansion of Terminal 2 at Jebel Ali Port. Those works involve the construction of 400m of new quay wall that will increase the capacity of Terminal 2 by about 1 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

The opening of Terminal 2 in 2008 was the last major expansion at the port. It has a capacity of 5 million TEUs and is equipped with 29 super post-Panamax gantry cranes and 60 rail-mounted gantries. Hyundai completed the construction work and Belgium’s Jan de Nul completed the dredging works for the terminal.

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