Transport Ministry completes second berth in Al-Faw Grand Port
An aerial view of the Al-Faw Grand Port in southern Iraq, with the first phase of the project currently underway. Photo: Daewoo E&C
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Transport announced on Monday the completion of the second berth in the Al-Faw Grand Port in southern Iraq.
The Transport Ministry mentioned in a statement that the completion of the second berth took place in the first hours of the new year according to the directives of the Iraqi Minister of Transport, Razzaq Muhaibas Al-Saadawi, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
The statement indicated that the completion rate of the seaport’s five berths exceeded 85 percent, which is a greater percentage than what was planned for the project.
The Iraqi government is planning to set up an industrial city, which will be the biggest in the Middle East, as part of the Al-Faw Grand Port project, which is expected to be completed by 2025.
The Iraqi Ministry of Transport mentioned in March that plans have been proposed to develop ports in Iraq, the most important of which is the Al-Faw Grand Port, which is being developed by a Korean company.
The Al-Faw Grand Port is located on the Khor Abdallah Channel, near the mouth of Shatt Al Arab.
The Al-Faw Grand Port is being developed by Daewoo E&C, and the container terminal is part of its first phase that goes into operation, according to Maritime Gateway News.
The first phase will have five container shipping berths that can each accommodate ships of up to 23 thousand twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
When fully completed in 2038, the Al-Faw Grand Port, with 100 berths that can handle 7.5 million TEU annually, would overtake Dubai’s 67-berth Jebel Ali as the largest container port in the Middle East, Maritime Gateway News reported.
The first phase of the port, expected to be completed in 2028, is estimated to have an annual container handling capacity of four million TEU.
The $7 billion logistics project will rival the Suez Canal in Egypt as it will be linked through an overland route to Turkey by rail and would make the port city of Basra a gateway to Europe.