Container terminal operator DP World has started work on the $850m project to build the third terminal at Jebel Ali port in UAE.
TOA-Soletanche Bachy JV is carrying out the design, construction and commissioning in addition to providing required terminal infrastructure for the third terminal.
The JV will also be responsible for deepening the channel depth to receive super post-panamax next-generation container ships at the terminal.
Terminal 3 will have a quay length of 1,860m, a draft of 17m and a 70-hectare storage yard.
With scheduled completion in 2014, Terminal 3 will increase the cargo-handling capacity of the port by four million teu per year.
The third terminal will be equipped with 19 ship-to-shore (STS) quay cranes and 50 rail mounted gantry (RMG) cranes to handle the world’s largest container vessels.
The terminal is also expected to help the port operator handle future demand from the commodities trade, especially with the new airport in Jebel Ali picking up cargo throughput that will create the region’s biggest sea-to-air cargo facility.
DP World said that the ongoing expansion of Terminal 2 at Jebel Ali Port is 60% complete; the expanded terminal is scheduled to open in the first half of 2013, adding one million teu capacity to the port.
The Terminal 2 expansion will also extend the quay wall from 400m to 3,000m to simultaneously process six 15,000teu mega ships.
By 2014, both terminal 2 and 3 will increase the total capacity at the Jebel Ali port to 19 million teu.
DP World handled 14.2 million teu in the third quarter of 2012, a decrease of 1% compared to the 14.3 million teu it handled in the same period in 2011.
Image: DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem and DP World chief operations officer of UAE region Mohammed Ali Ahmed at Terminal 2’s construction area. Photo: DP World.
