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A new terminal at the port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is set to increase capacity by 45 percent, according to comments made by Mazen Mohammed Matar, CEO of Red Sea Gateway Terminal Company, and reported by Arab News.

The facility, which is scheduled to be completed by October this year, is designed to handle 1.5 million containers per year. The project forms part of a long-term plan, which has been put in place to improve the city's infrastructure over the next 30 years.

Our desire is to complete the project with all related aspects including linkage with Jeddah city and the port,” said Matar. “We have prepared three studies, including a traffic study on linking the terminal with the port and the city. We have passed these studies to the concerned authorities,” he said.

One of the studies looks at linking Jeddah Islamic Port (JIP) with the Landbridge Project East-West Railway which currently links Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Jubail.

A 16.5-meter deep canal has been built to accommodate large container ships at the new Red Sea Gateway Terminal. A new marine wharf with a depth of 18 metres and eight cranes are also being erected. Four of the cranes will be operational in the first phase and will be able to carry four containers at a time.

Commenting on the possibility of other projects in the future, Matar said “If situations are suitable our company would not hesitate to construct more terminals.”