PORT PROFILE — ARABIAN GULF
King Abdulaziz Port Dammam Profile
The Kingdom’s Gulf gateway and the only Saudi port with a working freight railway to the capital: 43 berths, the east coast’s largest container terminal, a dedicated explosives berth, and a SAR 7 billion path to 7.5 million TEU.
UN/LOCODE
SADMM
Landlord
Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani)
Container operator
Saudi Global Ports (PSA International + PIF)
Berths
43
Container throughput, 2024
3.2 million TEU
Cargo handling capacity
up to 105 million t
Operator and ownership
- Landlord & regulator
- Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani).
- Container terminals
- Saudi Global Ports (SGP), a joint venture between PSA International of Singapore and the Public Investment Fund, under a build-operate-transfer concession worth more than SAR 7 billion ($1.8–1.9 billion) — the largest single-operator seaport investment under a public-private partnership in the Kingdom.
- Multipurpose terminals
- Modern Port Services Company, an SGP subsidiary, integrated four east-coast multipurpose terminal concessions from Mawani in July 2025 under 20-year agreements.
- Other terminals
- General-cargo and specialist berths operate under separate concessions and service contracts.
- Inland integration
- SGP also holds the Riyadh Dry Port concession from Saudi Arabia Railways, and runs Dammam and Riyadh as one system.
Location and coordinates
On the Arabian Gulf at Dammam, Eastern Province — the largest port on the Gulf and the natural gateway for Riyadh, the Eastern Province industrial belt and the landlocked interior. Unlike the Red Sea ports it is inside the Strait of Hormuz, which is both its connectivity and its risk profile.
- Coordinates
- 26.4886° N, 50.2011° E
- Berths
- 43, fully serviced and equipped
- Harbour type
- Coastal breakwater
- Rail
- Berths 4–13 are connected to the rail network
- Established
- First berths from the 1950s; expanded through the 1970s and 1980s
Cargo types handled
Terminal facilities
- First Container Terminal
- Refurbished berths and facilities under the SGP concession; the older of the two container facilities.
- Second Container Terminal
- Expanded berths and a rebuilt container yard to take giant containerships, with a purpose-built technology sandbox for testing new processes before they go live.
- Central berths (1–13)
- ≈41 hectares with ten warehouses over 5.5 hectares. Berths 4–13 handle general cargo and are rail-served; Berth 10 is dedicated to bagged fertiliser.
- Eastern berths (14–22)
- ≈50 hectares with ten warehouses over roughly six hectares; general cargo, with ro-ro ramps at Berths 14 and 22.
- Western berths (27–39)
- 74.5 hectares with eight warehouses. Ro-ro and project cargo at 27–29; grain discharge at Berth 30; general cargo and grey cement at 31–34; cold stores over 2.9 hectares at Berth 35; bulk ores, cement, clinker, grain and edible oils at 36–38.
- Explosives terminal (Berth 39)
- A dedicated explosives berth, which also handles cement, clinker, gypsum and other bulk products — a capability no other Saudi commercial port advertises.
- Integrated logistics zone
- An approximately 1 million m² zone adjacent to the port, managed by SGP Freezones, representing an investment of up to SAR 1.3 billion, with bonded warehouses and modern cold storage planned.
Dammam is a genuinely multi-purpose port. The container terminals get the headlines, but the grain, cement, ro-ro, edible-oil and explosives berths are what make it the Eastern Province’s industrial gateway.
Annual tonnage and TEU
| Metric | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Container throughput (SGP terminals) | 3.2 million TEU | 2024 |
| Container throughput, cumulative | more than 15 million TEU | to Nov 2025 |
| Cargo & container handling capacity | up to 105 million t | current |
| Container capacity after expansion | 7.5 million TEU | target, by 2050 |
| Monthly containers handled | 292,612 | a recent May |
Saudi Global Ports operates the largest container terminal on the Eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, and its operator-reported volumes are the most reliable per-port container figures available for any Saudi port — Mawani itself publishes container throughput only as a national total (8,317,235 TEU across its ports in 2025).
SOURCES · Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) via the Saudi Press Agency · Saudi Global Ports · PSA International
Main carriers and shipping lines
Mawani announces service additions as they happen. Recent examples: Evergreen’s ARPG service, with a total capacity of 9,466 TEU, linking Dammam to Port Klang, Laem Chabang, Vung Tau, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Ningbo, Shanghai, Umm Qasr and Jebel Ali; and MSC’s Himalaya Express, offering handling capacity up to 14,000 TEU and connecting Dammam and Jubail Commercial Port with twelve other ports.
Road and rail connections
- Rail — freight
- The only Saudi seaport with a working container railway to the capital. SAR’s East network runs 556 km from the port through Al-Ahsa, Abqaiq, Al-Kharj and Haradh to Riyadh Dry Port. Berths 4–13 are rail-connected. Rail freight from here is the Kingdom’s single most developed inland corridor.
- Road
- Highway 40, the Dammam–Riyadh expressway, runs roughly 400 km to the capital; Highway 613 and the coastal road serve Jubail, Ras Tanura and Khobar.
- Air
- King Fahd International Airport is about 40 km away, with the Kingdom’s only airport bonded zone.
- Cross-border
- The King Fahd Causeway to Bahrain is roughly 30 km south of the port — a live road-freight corridor.
Customs facilities
ZATCA operates the customs post; FASAH is the single window for declarations and permits. Mawani’s Ports Community System connects operators, lines, agents and customs.
Bonded transit under customs seal is what makes the Dammam–Riyadh rail corridor work: containers move inland uncleared and are cleared at Riyadh Dry Port.
The adjacent SGP Freezones logistics zone is planned to add bonded warehousing and cold storage inside a single integrated estate.
Cold-chain capability
Cold stores cover approximately 2.9 hectares at Berth 35, alongside reefer plug capacity on the container terminals.
SGP is developing modern cold-storage capability within the roughly 1 million m² Dammam Integrated Logistics Zone, moving the port from reefer handling towards genuine cold-chain warehousing.
Chilled and frozen food for the Eastern Province and Riyadh is a core traffic; reefer boxes also move inland by rail.
Dangerous-goods capability
Dangerous goods move under the IMDG Code with segregation, prior notification and ZATCA and Mawani approval.
Berth 39 is a dedicated explosives terminal — the only publicly identified one at a Saudi commercial port, and the reason Class 1 traffic that cannot be accepted elsewhere routes through Dammam.
Petrochemical-adjacent classes are routine here given the Eastern Province industrial base.
Expansion projects
- Container terminal development — SGP
- A build-operate-transfer concession worth more than SAR 7 billion ($1.86–1.9 billion): refurbished berths and facilities across the first container terminal, expanded berths and an overhauled yard at the second, plus a custom-built technology sandbox. The project is expected to raise overall container capacity by 120% to 7.5 million TEU and to generate more than 4,000 jobs.
- Dammam Integrated Logistics Zone
- A roughly 1 million m² zone adjacent to the port, managed by SGP Freezones, with investment of up to SAR 1.3 billion; groundbreaking took place in November 2025.
- Multipurpose terminals concession
- Four 20-year concessions awarded by Mawani to SGP’s Modern Port Services Company, integrated in July 2025, covering multipurpose cargo across the east coast.
- Riyadh Dry Port integration
- SGP holds the Riyadh Dry Port concession and operates the seaport and the dry port as one system to cut end-to-end logistics cost.
Official contact links
- Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) ↗
- The landlord and regulator — port pages, tariffs and service announcements.
- Saudi Global Ports ↗
- The container and multipurpose terminal operator.
- Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) ↗
- The rail operator on the Dammam–Riyadh freight corridor.
- ZATCA ↗
- Customs, tariff and bonded-transit rules.
RiyadhCargo.com is an independent news monitoring service. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for any organisation named on this page. Links are provided for reference only.
Latest related news
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Frequently asked questions
How many containers does Dammam handle?
Saudi Global Ports handled 3.2 million TEU at its King Abdulaziz Port terminals in 2024 and passed 15 million TEU cumulatively by November 2025. That makes it the largest container terminal on the Saudi east coast.
Can containers move from Dammam to Riyadh by rail?
Yes — and this is the only Saudi seaport where that is routine. SAR’s East network runs 556 km from the port to Riyadh Dry Port via Al-Ahsa, Abqaiq, Al-Kharj and Haradh, with berths 4–13 rail-connected and boxes moving inland under customs seal for clearance at Riyadh.
Does Dammam handle explosives?
Yes. Berth 39 is a dedicated explosives terminal, which also takes cement, clinker, gypsum and other bulk products. No other Saudi commercial port advertises an equivalent facility.
Who owns Saudi Global Ports?
It is a joint venture between PSA International of Singapore and the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. It also holds the Riyadh Dry Port concession from Saudi Arabia Railways.
What is the capacity ceiling?
The SGP expansion programme targets a 120% increase to 7.5 million TEU when the works are fully complete, with the operator citing 2050 for the full figure. The port’s overall cargo and container handling capacity is cited at up to 105 million tonnes.
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