King Abdullah Port

King Abdullah Port is a seaport located on the Red Sea coast in King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh, about ninety km north of Jeddah City in Makkah al-Mukarramah Province, western the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Spanning an area of about 17.4 km², the port overlooks one of the world’s key maritime trade routes connecting East and West and linking three continents, thus meeting the Kingdom’s need for a modern port, both locally and internationally, while contributing to a sustainable economy and diversifying income sources.

King Abdullah Port is one of the main elements of the Kingdom’s integrated transportation network, as it connects to major highways leading to several key Saudi cities and industrial centers, including Makkah al-Mukarramah and al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, as well as Yanbu and Rabigh Cities, both of which witness substantial commercial activity in the petrochemical industries field.

Serving as a regional logistics hub, King Abdullah Port links three continents along the East-West trade route that accounts for more than 13 percent of global trade.

King Abdullah Port was established in 2010 under a strategic partnership between public and private sectors. It was officially inaugurated by His Royal Highness, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, crown prince and prime minister, on February 11, 2019.

King Abdullah Port is managed by the private sector, and it is owned by the Ports Development Company "PDC." It is the first port to be fully owned and developed by the private sector. Its objectives focus on facilitating supply chain operations, and logistics services, and keeping pace with import and export activities to and from countries worldwide. In addition, there is a processing and services area spanning seven hundred thousand m², supporting the general and bulk cargo terminal as well as agricultural goods.

Eight leading global shipping lines operate at the port, serving both exporters and importers. The port has entered into partnerships with shipping companies, banks, and global port-operating corporations, with total investments exceeding SAR13 billion.

Global shipping companies "MSC" and "MAERSK" have designated King Abdullah Port as a primary maritime logistics hub for expanding their operations. "MAERSK" Company established a business center in King Abdullah Port, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, to provide integrated logistics services. Almarai Company also owns a fully integrated facility here, including a center of operations offering solutions to develop logistics services and bolster the food supply ecosystem in the Kingdom.

The port comprises five terminals. The container terminal can handle up to 6.5 million TEUs, while the dry bulk terminal can handle three million t. The agricultural bulk terminal has a capacity of more than four million t, and the general cargo terminal can handle two million t. Meanwhile, the Ro/Ro terminal can accommodate two hundred thousand vehicles.

King Abdullah Port can handle four million containers, making it the largest port in the Middle East and among the largest globally. In 2019, twenty-eight modern cranes were delivered as part of an expansion of the container terminals, boosting the port’s annual throughput capacity to five million TEUs. Once fully completed, the port is expected to reach a handling capacity of twenty million TEUs and fifteen million t of bulk cargo per year.

King Abdullah Port relies on effective technologies and systems to organize its operations, including a port management system that provides real-time information on vessel berthing schedules, container coordinates, and cargo capacities. It also enables cargo owners to view the details of their shipments, as well as crew information and data on hazardous cargo, in addition to ancillary maritime services. Furthermore, the port utilizes a smart gate system integrated with the port management system to enhance operational efficiency. This system facilitates the entry of drivers and their cargo by automatically recognizing the driver's identity and opening the gate without human intervention, reducing costs and saving time, and empowering terminal operators to increase productivity efficiency.

King Abdullah Port won the “Most Progressive Port” award at the Global Infrastructure Congress in 2018.

In 2022, the port was ranked second worldwide in terms of growth, according to "Alphaliner," a company specializing in maritime transport data analysis, port capacity, future ship development, and shipping routes. This marked an advancement of ten places to seventy-third on Alphaliner’s 2021 list of the world’s top one hundred container ports, compared to eighty-seventh the previous year.

The port also received the “Best Container Terminal” and “Best Bulk and General Cargo Terminal” awards at the International Finance Transport Awards 2021, as well as the “Outstanding Performance” award in December 2021, during the eighteenth "Seatrade" Maritime Awards 2021 for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, and Africa. In 2020, the World Bank ranked King Abdullah Port as the world’s second-most efficient port. Within less than four years of its operational launch, it was included among the world's top hundred ports.

In 2023, the port claimed first place as the world’s most efficient port, according to the Container Port Performance Index issued by the "World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence."

King Abdullah Port secured first place in the "2021 Container Port Performance Index," surpassing 443 ports worldwide, based on the administrative and statistical metrics used to evaluate port performance.

In 2022, the port recorded the highest number of containers handled on a single vessel among Saudi ports, with 20,153 TEUs handled in 77.46 working hours aboard the "MSC Renee" Ship. It also handled the largest container ship in the world, the "MSC Irina."

According to the 2024 "Lloyd’s List" of the world’s top one hundred ports, King Abdullah Port advanced from the seventy-first to the seventieth place, registering 2,929,807 TEUs in 2023, compared to 2,905,306 TEUs in 2022, an increase of 0.8 percent.