10 |Potts

California Maritime Academy

Transportation Carrier Management

Professor Clott

Ports Paper

April 21st, 2009

Valerie Potts

Introduction

When one thinks of the Middle East they think oil and war, but for the following ports there is a lot more going on. The main commodity for the ports of Dubai, India (UAE), Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Doha, Qatar, and Muscat, Oman is oil, but it is not the most predominate issues at hand in the areas; expansion is. My opinion is the aforementioned ports have been able to prosper so much from oil dependant nations; they have enough money to fund the expansions of their ports even when the world is in a horrible economic state. The main reasons for these expansions are to house and be more accommodating for the new larger vessels that have been hitting the waves in the recent times.

Dubai, United Arab Emirate

Dubai is the most populous city in the seven emirates within the United Arab Emirate and is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula. Documents have shown that the city has existed for at least 150 years prior to the formation of the UAE. Dubai shares legal, political, military and economic ideas and ways with the other emirates. Dubai has the largest population and is the second largest emirate by area. Historically, Dubai was an important port of call for Western manufacturers. Most of the new city's banking and financial centers are headquartered in the port area due to the fact that in the 1970s and 1980s Dubai maintained its importance as a trade route. Today, the emirate's main revenues come from tourism, trade, real estate and financial services. Although Dubai's economy was built on the oil, petroleum and natural gas industries, it only contributes less than 6% of the emirates revenues. Estimates say Dubai produces 240,000 barrels of oil a day and substantial quantities of gas from offshore fields. However, Dubai's oil reserves have diminished significantly and are expected to be exhausted in 20 years. Dubai's is a re-exporting nation with countries such as Iran (US$ 790 million), India (US$ 204 million) and Saudi Arabia (US$ 194 million). Exports for Dubai, India are textiles, gems, jewelry, manufactured metals, machinery and instruments, plastics and linoleum products, tea, and marine products. The emirate's top importing countries are Japan (US$ 1.5 billion), China (US$ 1.4 billion) and the United States (US$ 1.4 billion). Imports are pearls, precious and semi-precious stones, gold, pulp and waste paper, sulfur, unroasted iron pyrites, and metals and all metal scraps.

Dubai's port was constructed in the 1970s, as the largest man-made harbor in the world and was ranked eighth globally for the volume of container traffic it was able to support. The Dubai Financial Market was established in March 2000 as a secondary market for trading securities and bonds, including both local and foreign. As of fourth quarter 2006, its trading volume stood at about 400 billion shares, worth US$ 95 billion in total. The DFM had a market capitalization of about US$ 87 billion. The government's decision to diversify from a trade-based and oil-reliant economy to one that is service and tourism-oriented has made real estate more valuable, resulting in the property appreciation from 20042006. However, a long-term assessment shows property depreciation, like the rest of the world. Large scale real estate development projects have led to the construction of some of the tallest skyscrapers and largest projects in the world, which is why the imports include so much construction products.

Like every other nation in the world, Dubai is suffering from an economic down turn and is building quite a debt, especially in the foreign markets. However the Emirates National Oil Company just revealed a $250 million plan to upgrade its oil refining to include gasoline production, which will help to boost trade to oil dependant nations. Intermodal usages are beginning to be upgraded too and Dubai has a plan to invest $30 billion in aviation infrastructure which will give Dubai the largest aviation hub in the Middle East. Proving that even in a down economy, the emirate knows it must spend money to stay afloat and to help prevent its closure.

Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Dammam is the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and is the largest city in the Eastern Province and the largest port on the Persian Gulf. Its port for import-export traffic is second to Jeddah's port. The ports intermodal is mainly the King Fahd International Airport, which is about 20km to the northwest, which is connected to the port by an eight-lane highway. The Cities that surround Dammam are those directly involved with the ports exports. Khobar, which is a modern economic hub, followed by Dhahran, which is the headquarters for Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world, and Qatif, which is populated by fishermen and farmers. The total population of these cities is about 2 million, and of that 600,000 live in the city of Dammam itself.

King Abdul Aziz Port, Dammam, is the principal port of Saudi Arabia in the Gulf and is located just about mid-way along the Eastern Coast. Dammam is the main gateway through which cargoes from all over the world enter the Eastern and Central Provinces of the Saudi Kingdom and it is strategically placed to service the requirements of the oil industry. The Port is fully self-sufficient with its own administration offices, mechanical and marine workshops, electrical, telephone and marine communications networks and water refinery. It has its own medical clinic, fire department and a large housing complex for port employees, with mosques and a supermarket. There is an excellent highway system connecting Dammam Port with the rest of the Kingdom and with the Gulf States along with a busy railway to Riyadh Dry Port. During 2001, for the first time, Saudi Container/RoRo Terminals handled more than 1.7 million TEU, an increase of 12.6 % compared to the previous year. Some of the exports the port handle are refined products, liquefied gas, petrochemicals, agricultural food, industrial products, recycling products, vehicles, fish, and empty containers, and imports like construction products, food and food related items, vehicles, and consumer goods, for everyday use. This port has plans to extend and rebuild, but with the economy and the slowing of the oil needs, Dammam put its plans on hold.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Jeddah, which means grandmother, is a city in Saudi Arabia located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh, where the port of Dammam is located out of. Jeddah is considered the commercial capital of Saudi Arabia due to its immense and prosperous port. Jeddah is the principal gateway to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, in which Muslims are required to visit at least once in their lifetime, making tourism a large commodity for the area. The city was founded as a fishing hamlet over 2000 years ago and fish have remained an export ever since. Dammam has a thousand years of trading behind it and is home to some of the world's most successful merchants and business people, making it natural that Jeddah is the commercial capital of Saudi Arabia. Plus the city's geographical location places the city at the heart of the region surrounded by the Middle East and North Africa, with the other nations capitals within two hours flying distance, placing Jeddah as the commercial center of the Middle East. Jeddah is also an industrial district and is the third largest industrial city in Saudi Arabia after Jubail and Yanbu.

Jeddah is another Middle Eastern port looking to expand. The Saudi Sea Port Authority signed a license agreement with Saudi Trade & Export Development Company to develop and operate a third container terminal at Jeddah Port on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. In 2005 JIP ranked 27th among 100 international seaports jumping 29 up in rank less than four years. The US$443 million project will expand Jeddah capacity by 45%, and help maintain Jeddahs lead as the hub port of the Middle Eastern region. The new container terminal is also expected to contribute to the plan of the Land Bridge with the completion of the Saudi Railways project, creating a fast and efficient land-based link from the Red Sea to the Gulf, as a great intermodal access to the rest of the region. Additionally, the project will help to boost the business activity of consignment and re-export across the Kingdom, resulting in the increasing the competitive capability of the marine transport and support system in Saudi Arabia. Mohammed A. Zainal Alireza Chairman of the expansion project stated that the new terminal is to be built on reclaimed land along the re-export zone in Jeddah. It is expected to handle up to 2 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) of containers annually, and will be equipped to accommodate the biggest and latest container vessels under design. The proposed terminal will include a handling and storage area covering about 400,000 square meters. The estimated $443 million scheme began in 2007 and should take about three years to complete and be in operation. Edaw/Aecom, international leader in engineering and master planning corportaion, was selected to develop a 30-year master plan for the terminal to guarantee that all the money being placed into the port will be worth it. The planners of the expansion went even further by appointing Maunsell from Australia to conduct a detailed rail and road network analysis for solutions to ease traffic around the port area and effectively connect to the upcoming Saudi Land Bridge Project. This wil