IPS increases year-to-date throughput 16%

Port of Dammam terminal operator International Ports Services set a record for the first four months of 2015.    International Ports Services, which operates and manages of the container and roll-on/roll-off terminal at King Abdulaziz Port of Dammam in Saudi Arabia, set a new throughput record in the first four months of 2015. The terminal operator handled over 600,000 TEUs, an increase of 16 percent compared to the first four months of 2014.
   IPS attributed the growth in volumes primarily to increases in Saudi Arabian trade and the deep-water terminal facilities’ capacity, allowing more efficient container movements.
   A subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings, IPS said it has invested more than $100 million in its facilities over the past two years, purchasing three new semi-automated remote controlled quay cranes, 15 rubber-tyred gantry cranes, and 77 terminal tractors. The company also expanded its container yard to 116 hectares, a 15 percent increase, “to ensure it can handle growing cargo volumes with speed and efficiency.”
   In 2014, IPS reached a milestone 17 million TEUs handled since the terminal concession began in 1997 and broke its own records with volumes of 163,000 TEUs and 61 vessel calls in a single month. Those ships included the 11,660-TEU MSC Ivanna, the largest vessel ever to call at the Port of Dammam.
   Parent company Hutchison Port Holdings, itself a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL), operates a network of port operations comprising 319 berths in 52 ports across 26 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Oceania.
   Nasser Saif, head of operations at IPS, said of the ytd results, “The productivity achievement is the result of a team effort. It was a close working relationship between our staff and shipping lines. For instance, we managed to break our own record by clocking 170 moves per hour when handling the OOCL Europe in April, with 4,000 moves across six quay cranes and an average of 32 moves per quay crane/hour.
   “IPS will continue to pursue a better performance as it implements a series of operations enhancement programs,” he added.