The SR100 billion (US$26.6 billion) project will cover a 55 million square meter area along a 35-km shoreline on the Red Sea.
Central to the mega project is the creation of a new 2.6 million square-meter millennium seaport similar in size to ports such as Rotterdam that would allow even the world’s largest super vessels to drop anchor.
With its strategic location on the Red Sea and instant access to key cities within Saudi Arabia, the port will have a designated area for light industry and logistics, and serve as a natural platform for onward movement of goods to Europe, Africa, Asia and beyond.
The port will have an integrated transport system with seamless high speed transition from sea to rail, road and air, making the city the main gateway to the Central and Eastern Provinces as well as the entire Kingdom. The port, with its close proximity to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, will have a dedicated Haj terminal that can receive over 500,000 pilgrims every season. To cater to the pilgrims’ needs, there will be adjoining hotels, medical centers and other world class amenities.
The state-of-the-art container port has a throughput capacity of 3.8million TEU/year in Phase 1, increasing to 6million TEU/year in Phase 2. There will be three slot berths to cater for mega vessels and linear berths for smaller vessels and feeder vessels.
WorleyParsons performed the initial planning for the port and developed the port concept. Furthermore WorleyParsons estimated the construction cost and set up an economic model to determine the IRR and NPV and the basis of various revenue scenarios.
