Contractors bidding for the contract to design and build a second container terminal at Dammam’s King Abdulaziz port expect Saudi Global Ports Company to award the contract by the end of June.

The port operator received bids from nine groups for the contract in May. The bidders are:

• Afcons (India)
• Archirodon Construction(Geneva-registered)
• China Harbour Engineering Company(Beijing-based)
• Daelim Industrial Company (South Korea)
• Huta Marine Works (local)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company (South Korea)
• SK Engineering & Construction Company (South Korea)
• STFA (Turkey)
• Target Construction (UAE)

The design and build contract involves building a second container terminal to the west of the existing port complex. It will have a 600 metre-long quay wall with an alongside depth of 16 metres and 450,000 square metres of onshore facilities.

When completed in 2014, the new terminal will add 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), taking the total capacity of the port to three million TEUs.

Saudi Global Ports is a joint venture of the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the Port Authority of Singapore. In July 2011, it signed a $533m contract with Saudi Ports Authority to develop a second container terminal at King Abdulaziz port on a built, operate, transfer (BOT) basis.

According to the ports authority, throughput at Dammam port has been growing steadily since 2004. In 2010, the port handled 1.33 million TEUs, nearly double the 740,000 handled in 2004.