The uniqueness of the Kingdom's locations
Due to the uniqueness of the Kingdom's location and the distribution of its ports on the coasts of the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf, they became economic centers that contribute positively to the development of commercial and industrial movement, and the ports sector received great support from the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - may God protect him - and this support included spending amounts exceeding 40 billion riyals on the establishment of infrastructure and the construction and development of specialized piers and terminals in the Kingdom's sea ports, and included expansion and development projects to keep pace with developments in the port industry and shipping transport, making a qualitative shift in port work during recent years.
Development and development
A report of the General Corporation for Ports explained that since its establishment, the Corporation has undertaken to develop, develop and improve the conditions of ports and manage them in accordance with effective international systems and methods, reorganize ports and raise their efficiency, which contributed to the increase in the capacity of Saudi ports during 2012 to 470 million tons, an increase of 60 million tons compared to 2011, in addition to increasing the number of docks to 208 docks.
The quantities of cargo handled amounted to more than 171 million tons of cargo compared to 165 million tons in 2011, an increase of 4 percent, and the number of containers handled at the ports increased to 6.1 million containers by 7 percent from 2011, and an increase of more than 1.8 million containers in 2012, and the container sector also witnessed an increase in the capacity of ports from 5 million containers in 2008 to 12 million containers in 2012, while the actual realized revenues of the ports during the fiscal year 1433/1434 AH exceeded 4 billion riyals, an increase of 800 million riyals over the revenues of the previous fiscal year.
The ports' actual realized revenues during the fiscal year 1433/1434 AH exceeded 4 billion riyals, an increase of 800 million riyals over the revenues of the previous fiscal year.
Project implementation
The financial results of the General Corporation for Ports for the fiscal year 1433/1434 AH showed that the value of the amounts spent on the implementation of projects in the ports during the last fiscal year exceeded two billion riyals, while the implementation of 25 projects was completed at a total cost of more than 2.7 billion riyals.
The Corporation's budget for the fiscal year 1434/1435 AH was estimated at about 1897 million riyals that will be spent on the projects that are being implemented worth more than 4 billion riyals, and amounts were allocated to implement new projects in the ports worth 1800 million riyals that will include 9 ports, and 1 billion riyals were allocated for projects in Ras Al-Khair port to build new berths, expansion and deepening of the basin and paving of yards and projects worth 140 million riyals in a port to build a new berth, yards and roads, in addition to allocating 70 million riyals for Yanbu Commercial Port to establish a power plant and develop infrastructure.
Royalty of the ports is also allocated to the ports.
100 million riyals to secure equipment
The budget for this year included the allocation of 100 million riyals to secure new equipment and develop the sewage network at King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu, 65 million riyals to deepen the piers and develop the sewage network at Jubail Commercial Port, in addition to implementing projects to renew the piers and modernize facilities at Jeddah Islamic Port worth 80 million riyals, and the budget for the General Organization for Ports this year included the allocation of 150 million riyals to establish yards and develop facilities at King Abdulaziz Port, implement a security system and improve services at a cost of 95 million riyals at King Fahd Industrial Port in Jubail, in addition to allocating 57 million riyals for system projects.
