Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) at Jeddah Islamic Port, which saw a near doubling of throughput in its second full year of operations, will strive to gain a bigger share of cargo volume while raising efficiency and productivity to still higher levels, a senior official has said.

“RSGT will target capturing local volume which is boosted by the government’s economic stimulus package and social welfare programme,” said the terminal’s commercial manager Wan Kamal Azlan. “Government mega projects and infrastructure construction in the country overall are raising the demand for more import cargoes such as manufacturing products and construction materials; and the kingdom’s continuing booming population has also increased the demand for retail products, clothes, electronics and food supplies throughout the country. Demand for petrochemical products has also generated more export volume in the past year,” Azlan added.

Discussing efficiency and productivity matters, Azlan said they were very important for mega vessels. “RSGT will keep exploring faster turnaround not only on the wharf side but also on the yard side especially since the import container dwell day is very long (more than 11 days on an average) in Jeddah and has a  negative impact on yard capacity. RSGT will keep working on improving the container dwell day and enhance capacity,” he stressed.

Commercial operations at RSGT began in December 2009. Throughput at the terminal rose from 511,389 teu in 2010 to 993,640 teu in the following year. Current annual capacity at the terminal is 1.8 million teu. The company recently acquired an additional terminal yard, which increased terminal space by 50 per cent to 750,000 sq m, and deployed yard equipment such as trailers, reach stackers, and empty handlers.

The terminal witnessed a big throughput increase

Azlan said there was no outlining of any expansion plan.

The company enjoys a berth depth of 16.5 m which enables the terminal to receive mega vessels of up to 14,000 teu and above class. As it has the widest turning basin in Jeddah Islamic Port, some 650 m, there are no issues about handling large carriers calling at Jeddah. The terminal is equipped with 10 ZPMC quay cranes, eight of which are tandem lift and two are twin-lift cranes.

PORT VOLUME SHARE UP
As one of several terminals operating at Jeddah Islamic Port, RSGT saw its market share growing from 14 per cent of total volume at the port in 2010 to 25 per cent in the following year. In the first half of 2012, the share further increased to 27 per cent.

Starting from March 2012, shipping lines UASC, CSC and CMA started calling at RSGT on the AEC8/AEX7/FAL2 service which brings vessels of 13,000 teu on a weekly basis.

Major shipping lines using the port are: UASC, Norasia/CSAV, Hanjin Shipping Lines, China Ocean Shipping Company, Yang Ming Lines, CMA-CGM, K-Line and MSC (ad hoc basis).

Within the short period of its existence, RSGT has accumulated several achievements including managing to build the terminal into an international standard able to compete with other established terminals and ports, says Azlan.

“It is the only container terminal in Saudi Arabia that can handle mega-vessels over 13,000 teu without any restrictions, and these mega vessels are calling RSGT on a weekly basis. It has built a direct communication channel with the consignees/shippers through its online application/website, which enables the customers to have direct access to updates on their cargo. RSGT is also contributing on creating jobs, especially for young,  talented Saudi people. It is also the first container terminal in Saudi Arabia to include female staff in its workforce.”