King Salman Energy Park (Spark) and Hutchison Ports have signed a concession agreement for the operation and management of the dry port and bonded logistics zone located within the 50 sq km global energy hub in the Eastern Province of the kingdom.
The concession was awarded to a newly established company, Energy City Logistics Company (ECLC), a joint venture between Spark and Colour Path Holdings Limited, a Hutchison Ports company.
Under the concession, ECLC will be an exclusive operator to a $400-million state-of-the-art logistics facility in Spark.
The new facility will provide services for handling containers, breakbulk and project cargo, storage yards, warehousing, customs clearance, bonded and non-bonded logistics solutions tailored to the needs of its energy ecosystem.
According to Spark, the dry port will accelerate the Eastern Province’s development as a regional logistics powerhouse with the integration of future GCC rail link, GCC highway and multiple expressways connected to Spark site.
“The dry port is one of the key enablers for Spark's ecosystem and the signing of the concession agreement marks an important milestone for its moving to the operation readiness phase," remarked Engineer Saif Al Qahtani, the President and CEO of Spark, after signing the deal with Eric Ip, Group Managing Director of Hutchison Ports.
"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," he stated at the signing ceremony which was attended by senior management from both companies.
On the key venture, Ip 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, he added.
