Saudi Ports on Right Track

The Board of Saudi Ports Authority held a meeting on Saturday, 10/13/2012 in Dhiba port under the chairmanship of His Excellency Dr. Jubarah AL Suraiseri Transport Minister & Chairman of The Board of Saudi Ports Authority.

At the beginning of the meeting the board expressed its deep gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, for their ongoing support and the great attention that for the Ports Authority under whichthe Minister of Transport and Chairman of the board of Ports Authority laid the foundation stone for the second container terminal at King Abdulaziz Port at Dammam which Saudi Ports Authority contracted with “Saudi Global Ports LLC” to implement ,which is a joint company between the Saudi Investment Fund and Ports Authority of Singapore, which in accordance with this contract implementations, operations, maintenance and management of the terminal are included with investments exceeding USD 533 Millions .

The board was briefed later on the topics on its agenda and issued the appropriate decisions, including the approval of the final accounts of the Saudi Ports Authority for the financial year 2011, and approved the appointment of an external auditor to audit the accounts of Ports Authority for the financial year 2012. The Council also approved a scholarship program for (30) of the staff of Ports Authority to the United States and Britain to study diploma in ports management, marine engineering, mechanical engineering, electronics engineering, communications engineering and information technology engineering.

The board also viewed a number of reports as follows:

1) A report on the performance of the Saudi ports during the first eight months of 2012, and achieved productivity rates, which showed an increase at the amount of transported goods in Saudi ports by (18.45%) compared to the same period of the previous year, also achieved an increase in containers handled with (4.4) million TEUs handled, that shows an increase of (18.63%) for the number of containers handled during the same period in 2011.

The increase achieved in the amounts of handled goods mainly due to the development projects being implemented in the Kingdom and the increase in the global trade.

2) A follow-up report on the projects approved in the budget of the Ports Authority and their progress and the board emphasized the importance to accomplish them on time.

The meeting of the board at Dhiba port was held to view the progress of the port’s ongoing projects which the port is offered with other Saudi ports by the continued support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince.

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Press Release, January 16, 2013