Bahrain's Khalifa Bin Salman Port set to open

Bahrain's new BD136.3 million ($361.5 million) state-of-the-art Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) will be officially opened on December 6 by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The inauguration marks a critical milestone in Bahrain’s maritime and economic development.

“The port will boost the Kingdom’s economic status on a regional and international level in line with Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030, and will solidify its prominence among the shipping hubs of the region,” said chairman of the GOP (General Organisation of Sea Ports) Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa.

“With the latest technology and under the operation of international port experts APM Terminals, KBSP will have a significant impact on increasing efficiency of cargo movement and will establish Bahrain as a transhipment hub for the upper Gulf region.”

KBSP, which occupies 110 hectares of reclaimed land on the northeast shore of the Kingdom of Bahrain, began operations in April of this year and provides, services to shipping lines and logistic companies in accordance with the highest international specifications and standards in the industry. The port benefits from its strategic location near Bahrain International Airport and the roads leading to the King Fahd Causeway and Saudi Arabia.

The port was designed to accommodate a container capacity of more than 1.1 TEUs annually in addition to cruise ships facilities and warehouses. The terminal has capacity of 10,800 TEUs ground slots with a five container high, lending it a capacity of four times more than that of Mina Salman Port, Bahrain's main port for almost 50 years.  

The new port can receive the largest container ships crossing the Arabian Gulf, with quay wall of 1800 metres long and 15 metres depth. It is further complemented by the new Bahrain Logistics Zone, a 1 million sqm area that caters to logistics companies from across the globe.
  
The port’s first quarter operational statistics showed marked development in overall competence. The improvement is very apparent in terms of both berth and crane productivity.  Looking specifically at the volume of non-containerized goods imported, exported and re-exported from KBSP, general cargo throughput increased 9.3 per cent in June in comparison to April 2009.

Overall, the first quarter of KBSP operations (second quarter of 2009) experienced a general cargo throughput which was 20.8 per cent higher than at its equivalent time frame a year earlier.-