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In Profile: Saudi Global Ports Company

In Profile: Saudi Global Ports Company are a gold sponsor of the Saudi Maritime Congress and will be in attendance at the event in Riyadh on 11-12 March.  Seatrade Maritime News takes a closer look at the logistics and port services business as they continue to invest commitment into the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision.

Marcus Hand, Editor

March 7, 2019

5 Min Read
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Fast, reliable and efficient, just a few words to describe Saudi Global Ports Company. Currently operating on a forty-five hectares of reclaimed land in phase one. Who can imagine that a new mega container terminal will rise, create noise and become a leading brand of logistics and port services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a short span of time?

About eight years ago, under the patronage of the custodian of the Two Holy Mosque, the minister of transport Dr. Jbara Suraiseri with the presence of Singapore Transport Minister laid down the foundation stone of the second container terminal of King Abdul Aziz – Dammam port. And on 23rd of April 2015 SGPCC commenced its first commercial container operations. Within its early years of operations, SGPC has significantly improved vessel productivity, receiving regional accolades for this achievement. In addition to faster vessel turnaround, it also focused on minimizing overall logistics cost with faster import clearances, 100% export loadings with no shutouts, and significantly reduced dwell time for rail-bound containers to Riyadh.

Container Operations- Dammam Port plays a vital role in serving the world markets with over 20 shipping lines and more than 14 weekly services connecting Dammam port to the World.

Saudi Global Ports provides a state of the art container handling facility to the Customers with 2 containers berths equipped with 6 Super Post Panamax Cranes with an outreach of 23 rows wide for container handling at berth, and negative sixteen-meter deep at zero- tide to cater to the world’s largest container vessels. The Container Operations includes Loading on Vessel, Discharge from Vessel, Container Inspection Facility, Stuffing, Stripping, Examination, X Ray etc., supported by the latest container handling equipment’s and fully automated Terminal Operating System.

Available in the terminal are three rail sidings for handling the Riyadh Bound Import Containers which are scanned and shifted to Rail Area after discharging from vessel for direct Rail Loading. Containers are loaded on wagons on FIFO basis and BL wise for faster clearance at Riyadh dry port. SGPCC also supports storage of Import empty returned containers. Shipping Lines can also request for back loading of the empty containers on vessel, a flexibility that any shipping line always look after.

One of the greatest achievements of the company is when it successfully introduced and implemented an online truck appointment management system in December 2016. Where trucking companies can set truck appointments at a particular time slots, either to Pick up or drop off the container at the Terminal. The approach has huge impact to the Terminal’s frontline services reducing the long queues of transporters waiting to be served which resulted to great customer satisfaction and productivity for both trucking companies and terminal operator.

Saudi Global Port (SGPC) celebrated another milestone when it successfully crossed its first one millionth TEUs (Twenty Equivalent Units) on 28th of February 2018. This occasion was well- celebrated along with our customers and representatives from Dammam Port Authority – led by Director General of King Abdul Aziz Port, H.E. Mr. Naeem Al Naeem

Seated at the Kingdom’s deep water front, the new container terminal continued to demonstrate and contribute positively to rapid growing economy of Arabian Peninsula. Despite the overall drop-down in Dammam container volume in 2017, SGPC marked a positive 12.80 percent growth in total container volume handled compared to the previous year. This resulted to the visit of Saudi TABADUL CEO and his team– an integrated digital platform in the shipping industry. Another remarkable improvement of the company is the increase in productivity by 13.77% in terms of Vessel Rate and 10.97% to its Gross Berth Productivity during the same year. Though the economy turns to be rough and challenging, Saudi Global Ports still managed to accomplish a positive 1.60 percent growth in volume handled last year.

Committed to the Kingdom’s 2030 vision, “To be a pioneering and successful global model of excellence on all fronts.” Saudi Global Ports Co. continue to invest on technology, seek for smart solutions to modernize the current processes and innovate to satisfy the demands of valued customers. SGPC’s hunger to attain EXTRAORDINARY PRODUCTIVITY will never subside, driven by burning desire and commitment to deliver an excellent and world class service. – A culture that will never change.

On Innovation

SGPC’s advantage not rely solely with its state of the art equipment, facilities, and IT infrastructure, but more on its commitment to its customers to deliver fast and reliable service. SGPC always involve its customers, constantly communicating to them, involving them on how it can improve more and exceed those expectations. With this in mind, SGPC believes that this can be achieved through constant innovation. In fact adopted the flow of trends through Data analytics science to enhance the performances and ultimately deliver customers the best services

Engineering Department

The company’s engineering team always makes a way not to just to make their work convenient, but to make the operation more productive. Showing their commitment to innovate by constantly participating in the annual Global Innovation Awards set by PSA International Ltd - Singapore.

Finance and IT Department

Though SGPCC already has an existing TOS, challenges of system integration still exists, same is true with the finance system, - integrating with the bank system. But those challenges became history as SGPCC finance department along with the I.T. team collaborates with the banks to automate the whole process. A huge step forward to achieve a paperless and hustle free transaction.

People Empowerment

Employees are always persuaded to involve themselves in the innovation platform of PSA – iCAN. Sharing their ideas and get credited for it. Constant training courses, focus group discussions coaching and mentoring are regularly held to upgrade Saudi staff skills. Allowing them to be more flexible and competitive in all aspects of container terminal operations. Toolbox meeting and regular staff conference are held regularly to keep them updated on current port status and policies, making them feel that they are contributing to the organization.

Commitment

Likewise, SGPCC participates in “Go Green” initiatives under the auspices of the Port Authority, MAWANI, as part of its maritime week celebrations, to promote a clean and healthy environment. Young and committed company, eager to explores on green energy source and encouraging the staff to minimize the consumption of single-use materials. As an operator in Dammam Port, SGPC has a strong support to various government programs that contribute to the local community, such as blood donation drives, and hosting educational port visits and the like.

Read more about:

Saudi Arabia

About the Author

Marcus Hand

Editor

Marcus Hand is the editor of Seatrade Maritime News and a dedicated maritime journalist with over two decades of experience covering the shipping industry in Asia.

Marcus is also an experienced industry commentator and has chaired many conferences and round tables. Before joining Seatrade at the beginning of 2010, Marcus worked for the shipping industry journal Lloyd's List for a decade and before that the Singapore Business Times covering shipping and aviation.

In November 2022, Marcus was announced as a member of the Board of Advisors to the Singapore Journal of Maritime Talent and Technology (SJMTT) to help bring together thought leadership around the key areas of talent and technology.

Marcus is the founder of the Seatrade Maritime Podcast that delivers commentary, opinions and conversations on shipping's most important topics.

Conferences & Webinars

Marcus Hand regularly moderates at international maritime events. Below you’ll find a list of selected past conferences and webinars.

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