New cranes arrive at Jeddah?s newest container terminal Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT), the first fully automated, world-class container facility at Jeddah Islamic Port (JIP), Saudi Arabias key port continues to expand its throughput capacity, deploying new equipment.
Arriving on the ?Zhen Hua 20?, the fifth batch of equipment included two of industry's most advanced ship-to-shore container cranes, bringing the total number of cranes currently serving quayside to ten. RSGT, a US$510mn project and the Kingdom's first Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) port project, is spearheading the development of the country's maritime and logistics sector and well set to redefine container business in the region.
Showcasing commitment, the terminal operators, despite the global downturn, maintained their pace, consecutively advancing the Jeddah port's infrastructure in line with market growth. "JIP has experienced resurgence in container volume growth in the first half of this year, resonating with our expectations," LyeSeng Tan, COO, RSGT said.
"The slight upswing in the global economy and fear of 'the spectre of congestion' has prompted most terminal operators to rethink their investments. Luckily, RSGT has always remained ahead of the game. We continued, despite the world crisis, actually ordering more equipment than initially proposed."
Notably, RSGT is the only terminal on in JIP capable of receiving the next generation of super-mega vessels 13,000 TEUs and above. With the latest technology, and state of art equipment already in place, the terminal will ensure high productivity, raising the overall port's capacity by up to two million teu's annually. Commercial operations started at the terminal in December 2009 with full operations of 10 quay cranes scheduled by early November 2010.
