Bahrain's new port plans to triple box volume in five years

THE new Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman port in the northern Gulf is expected to more than triple container traffic passing through Bahrain within five years of its opening later this year when it replaces the old Mina Salman harbour as the kingdom's main cargo gateway.

The new port will have a draft of 15 metres to enable ships of up to 8,000-TEU to berth, up from the present capacity of 3,000-TEU vessels, reported the Gulf Daily News.

APM Terminal's managing director in Bahrain, Steen Davidsenwas cited as saying in the report: "This increase in the size of ships we can bring into the port is the key to us expanding from a straight forward import-export port to become a transhipment hub for the upper Gulf," he said.

"At present, transshipment is carried out at the Jebel Ali port in Dubai, but the increased capacity we will have, will make bringing the containership to Bahrain, offloading and then transporting on to feeders from here far more economic and quicker."

APM Terminals is planning to move to the new Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman port, after taking over the operation of Mina Salman port a year ago, the report said. "We are already talking to shipping lines and setting up the network that will make using Bahrain a more economic alternative. This will allow us to launch the port into this new venture and greatly increase traffic," said Mr Davidsen.

He said the Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman port will be equipped with modern cargo handling equipment to facilitate quick vessel turn around times and have enough spare capacity to "ensure ships arriving late could still be accommodated immediately".

APM Terminals is reported to have so far invested more than US$60 million in equipment and systems at Mina Salman. "When we took over the port was managing six to 10 container movements per hour," he said. "In the space of a year we have improved that to 30 an hour."

The port is scheduled to take delivery of four ship-to-shore cranes by the end of April which will be used for training until the move, the report added.