Hutchison Ports inks Saudi dry port concession agreement

“The concession was awarded to a newly established joint venture, Energy City Logistics Company (ECLC), between SPARK and Colour Path Holdings Limited, a Hutchison Ports company,” the Hong Kong-based port operator said.

SPARK is a 50 square kilometre global energy hub located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Under the concession, ECLC will be an exclusive operator of a $400m logistics facility in SPARK. The new facility will provide services for handling containers, breakbulk and project cargo, storage yards, warehousing, customs clearance, and bonded and non-bonded logistics solutions.

The dry port is likely to accelerate the Eastern Province’s development as a regional logistics powerhouse with the integration of future Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) rail link, GCC highway and multiple expressways connected to the SPARK site, Hutchison said.

“The dry port is one of the key enablers for SPARK’s ecosystem. The signing of the concession agreement marks an important milestone for the dry port moving to the operation readiness phase. ECLC will be ready for SPARK tenants from day one with integrated logistics solutions and efficient services, so they can focus on their productivity and value creation activities.” Eng. Saif Al Qahtani, SPARK’s President and CEO, said.

“We are very pleased to participate in this mega project and contribute to the success of the Saudi Vision 2030 of developing the Kingdom into a global logistics hub. This partnership represents Hutchison Ports’ continued commitment to the Kingdom, and we look forward to a fruitful partnership with future business opportunities,” Eric Ip, Group Managing Director of Hutchison Ports, said.

King Salman Energy Park is located around 50km south-south-west of Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, on the way to Abqaiq, and remains a work in progress, with little sign to date of facilities on the ground. However, a major industrial city is planned. In addition to conventional hydrocarbons, the site will also serve to aid the development of renewable energy solutions.

“To serve these industries, world-class logistics will be accessible through a dedicated zone within the city. This logistics zone will include on-site customs clearance, a bonded area coupled with a multimodal container terminal, connected by road and rail. It will also offer comprehensive logistics services and areas dedicated for warehousing,” a SPARK promotional video said.

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