According to he Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina), the No. 4 dry dock for the for the King Abdullah Port Facilities Project, the largest dry dock in the Middle East undertaken by PowerChina, has been successfully completed and handed over. It will help Saudi Arabia achieve economic structural transformation and diversified development, and will also open up new space for China-Saudi Arabia friendly cooperation.
The No.4 dry dock of King Abdullah Port in Saudi Arabia is the largest dry dock in the Middle East, with a length of 550 meters, a width of 75 meters and a depth of 13.8 meters, and a total of 126,000 cubic meters of concrete were poured.
Before the completion of the dock handover, the last 500-ton gantry crane of the King Abdullah Port project was successfully lifted into place in September last year, marking the successful completion of the lifting work of the four giant gantry cranes of the project.
The project’s No. 4 and No. 5 dry docks are designed to install a total of four gantry cranes, all manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery (ZPMC). Among them, the No. 4 dry dock consists of a 1,600-ton and a 500-ton gantry crane. After installation, the 1,600-ton giant gantry crane has a net lifting height of 113.5 meters, ranking first in the world, and its combined lifting capacity of 2,100 tons is among the best in the world. The No.5 dry dock supporting the installation of two 500-ton giant gantry cranes, net lifting height of 83 meters, combined lifting capacity of 1,000 tons.
It is reported that after being put into use, the four gantry cranes will be mainly used to lift large components such as hull sections and boarding towers, and will provide King Abdullah Port with the ability to build four drilling platforms and more than 40 very large tankers, Suezmax, Panamax, Handysize and other ships capacity.
It is understood that the King Abdullah Port project was laid and named by King Salman himself. It is located in the Ras Al Khair Industrial Zone, 180 kilometers north of Dammam, the third largest city in Saudi Arabia, on the eastern coast of the Persian Gulf. The project is undertaken by PowerChina’s Shandong Electric Power ConstructionCo., Ltd. and started in December 2019. The main land-based project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, and part of the sea-based project will be completed by 2025.
After completion, the King Abdullah Port project will become the world’s largest “super shipyard”, mainly engaged in the manufacture, maintenance, repair and overhaul of ships and drilling platforms, including the inspection and manufacturing of super tankers. It is expected to drive Saudi Arabia’s economic growth by US$17 billion and create 80,000 jobs.
According to public information, several key facilities have been handed over to the owner of the King Abdullah Port project in Saudi Arabia, in which a number of Chinese companies have participated since 2024, including hull workshops and dry docks. Relying on the handed-over workshops and facilities, the shipyard operator, International Maritime Industries, has started to build offshore drilling platforms last year.