The Riyadh Dry Port (RDP) links the Port of Dammam with the Riyadh City agglomeration: 80% of the containers enter the city by rail and are handled in the dry port – because the on-site customs clearing and inspection services provide a unique value proposition for importers and distributors. With 300,000 imported TEU p.a., RDP has now reached its capacity. The privately owned Dry Port operator BAAS therefore asked a specialist team of W.S. Atkins and ADI to create a redevelopment plan that allows to triple the RDP capacity.
The RDP is located near the city center and in short distance to major industrial clusters. Therefore it is well positioned to serve further customers, especially once the rail connection “land-bridge” to the Red Sea ports is implemented. However, due to its central location, no further land is available to support the capacity expansion. As a result it was required to design a solution which allows high performance operations in limited space. In order to derive a solid planning basis, ADI undertook a detailed container dwell time and process analysis and defined the space needed for storage and inspection operations. Supported by benchmark comparisons, ADI also determined the performance targets to be achieved in the main processes in future operations.
Technology and equipment for ports and dry ports are standard and readily available. However, the import and customs processes in the KSA are unique and do not allow copy-paste-solutions for flows of containers and goods, nor for the design of facilities and performance calculations of equipment. For the limited space available, tailor-made layout options had to be developed that enable a smooth integration of high-performance rail and high-density container storage and handling solutions coupled with comprehensive manually operated inspection operations for a wide range of goods. In addition to detailed layout and facility plans the work included to derive deployment plans for the options to support a phased and flexible implementation without interrupting on-going operations.
