PORT PROFILE — MINERALS & MARITIME INDUSTRY
Ras Al-Khair Port Profile
The Kingdom’s minerals export gateway and its shipbuilding coast: 14 berths purpose-built for phosphate, ammonia, bauxite and aluminium, direct rail to the mines, and the largest maritime industrial complex in the region alongside.
UN/LOCODE
SARAK
Landlord
Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani)
Operational since
February 2011
Berths
14 · 3,711 m total length
Handling capacity
≈35 million t / year
Industrial projects served
100+
Operator and ownership
- Landlord & regulator
- Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani).
- Multipurpose terminal
- Awarded to Modern Port Services Company, a Saudi Global Ports subsidiary, under a 20-year concession within Mawani’s SAR 2.2 billion eight-port BOT programme announced in June 2025.
- Anchor shippers
- Ma’aden — Ma’aden Aluminium, Ma’aden Phosphate and Ma’aden Wa’ad Al Shamal Phosphate — whose complexes at Ras Al-Khair and Wa’ad Al-Shamal generate most of the tonnage.
- Adjacent industry
- International Maritime Industries (IMI), a joint venture involving Saudi Aramco, Bahri, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Lamprell, operates the shipyard complex; NMDC Group runs a fabrication yard on the same coast.
- Zone
- Ras Al-Khair Industrial City is a designated Special Economic Zone under the Economic Cities and Special Zones Authority.
Location and coordinates
On the Arabian Gulf at Ras Al-Khair, Eastern Province, roughly 90 km north of Jubail Industrial City — a port built from nothing around a minerals complex, not a general trade gateway that later added industry.
- Coordinates
- ≈27.52° N, 49.20° E
- Port area
- ≈23 km²
- Berths
- 14, total length 3,711 m
- Berth depth
- 15 m to 16.2 m
- Built
- Construction from 2008; operational February 2011
Cargo types handled
Terminal facilities
- Bulk minerals berths
- Conveyor systems for phosphate; dedicated handling for alumina and petroleum coke; loading and unloading cranes for ammonia and tar. Each berth carries the fenders, mooring arrangements and equipment its commodity requires.
- General & project cargo
- Berths equipped for general and break-bulk cargo, serving the construction and equipment imports of the industrial city.
- IMI shipyard complex
- A maritime industrial complex of about 5 km² extending some 4 km along the coast, with several dry docks and more than 15 piers and wharfs across four operating zones — rig and ship repair with 12 berths and capacity for more than 15 rigs and 130 ships a year including VLCC repair; an offshore-support-vessel zone with nine berths; and a commercial shipbuilding zone with VLCC-size dry docks.
- Fabrication yards
- An NMDC Group yard for jackets and platforms, with capacity reaching 60,000 tonnes a year at final phase, and a Singatac Arabia offshore-structures facility under a SAR 139 million ($37 million) agreement on 100,000 m².
This is not a container port and it is not trying to become one. Its berths are commodity-specific, its equipment is fixed to those commodities, and its commercial logic is the mine-to-quay chain rather than liner connectivity.
Annual tonnage and TEU
| Metric | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Handling capacity | ≈35 million t / year | current |
| Cargo handled | 8,691,506 t (+24%) | 2022 |
| Cargo handled | 6,984,010 t | 2021 |
| Highest monthly handling | 1,060,835 t | December 2022 |
| Highest daily handling | ≈91,386 t | record |
| Container throughput | n/p | not a container port |
The gap between roughly 35 million tonnes of capacity and single-digit millions handled reflects a port built to the ultimate scale of the Ma’aden complexes and the Wa’ad Al-Shamal phosphate programme, not to current volumes.
SOURCES · Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) · Saudipedia · Ma’aden · International Maritime Industries
Main carriers and shipping lines
There is no liner container service here. Traffic is chartered bulk, gas carriers and project vessels moving under long-term industrial contracts, plus the shipyard’s own arrivals and departures. Bahri, the Saudi national shipping company, is a shareholder in the adjacent IMI shipyard.
Road and rail connections
- Rail — freight
- Direct rail to the mines. SAR’s North network links Ras Al-Khair to the Al-Jalamid phosphate deposits and the Az-Zabirah bauxite mine, and to the Wa’ad Al-Shamal industrial city in the Northern Borders region. In 2024 SAR moved 4.71 million tonnes of phosphate, 5.21 million tonnes of bauxite, 2.59 million tonnes of manganese and 1.52 million tonnes of magnesite across its network.
- Rail — to Riyadh
- SAR’s network connects Ras Al-Khair with Riyadh Dry Port, alongside King Abdulaziz Port Dammam, King Fahd Industrial Port and Jubail Commercial Port.
- Road
- Coastal road south to Jubail (≈90 km) and on to Dammam; Highway 40 west from Dammam to Riyadh.
- Air
- King Fahd International Airport is roughly 130 km south — the nearest air-cargo gateway.
Customs facilities
ZATCA operates the customs post; FASAH carries declarations and permits.
Ras Al-Khair Industrial City is a designated Special Economic Zone, with the customs, duty and tax regime that goes with it — aimed at maritime industry, mining value chains and offshore energy manufacturing.
Most traffic moves under industrial import and export regimes rather than general commercial clearance; temporary import and re-export is routine for rig and vessel repair.
Cold-chain capability
Ras Al-Khair has no dedicated cold-chain or reefer infrastructure. It is a minerals, bulk and maritime-industrial port, and refrigerated cargo for the Eastern Province routes through Jubail Commercial Port or King Abdulaziz Port Dammam instead.
This desk states an absent capability rather than implying a general one — a reference page that suggests every port does everything is worth nothing to the person planning a shipment.
Dangerous-goods capability
Dangerous-goods competence here is unusually deep, because the port’s core commodities are themselves hazardous: ammonia, sulphur, caustic soda and fertiliser-grade materials, all handled at bulk scale under the IMDG Code and the relevant bulk codes.
Ma’aden and Royal Commission health-and-safety regimes apply on the landside in addition to Mawani and ZATCA requirements.
Explosives are handled at King Abdulaziz Port Dammam’s dedicated Berth 39, not here.
Expansion projects
- Offshore structures facility
- A SAR 139 million ($37 million) agreement signed with Singatac Arabia, the local unit of Singapore-based Singatac Engineering, to build an offshore-structures manufacturing facility across 100,000 m², with warehouses for finished components, specialised welding systems and cranes.
- NMDC fabrication yard
- A jacket and platform fabrication yard with automated workshops and an advanced marine system, reaching 60,000 tonnes a year of capacity at final phase.
- Wa’ad Al-Shamal berths
- New berths commissioned to support the industrial companies at Ras Al-Khair as part of the northern phosphate programme.
- Multipurpose terminal concession
- Awarded to Modern Port Services Company under Mawani’s SAR 2.2 billion eight-port BOT programme.
Official contact links
- Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) ↗
- The landlord and regulator.
- Ma’aden ↗
- The anchor shipper — phosphate, aluminium and the Wa’ad Al-Shamal complex.
- Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) ↗
- The rail operator on the minerals corridor.
- Economic Cities & Special Zones Authority ↗
- The Ras Al-Khair Special Economic Zone.
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
Nothing on the wire mentioning Ras Al-Khair Port at the moment. The desk below carries the wider beat, and the feeds refresh every 10 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
What does Ras Al-Khair Port export?
Principally phosphate and phosphate fertilisers, ammonia, sulphur, bauxite, alumina and aluminium products from the Ma’aden complexes, plus petroleum coke, caustic soda and project cargo. It is a minerals export gateway, not a general trade port.
Does Ras Al-Khair handle containers?
No. There is no liner container service. Container cargo for the Eastern Province moves through King Abdulaziz Port Dammam or Jubail Commercial Port.
How much cargo does it handle?
Capacity is around 35 million tonnes a year. Recorded handling was 8,691,506 tonnes in 2022, up 24% on 6,984,010 tonnes in 2021, with a record month of 1,060,835 tonnes in December 2022.
Is the port connected to the mines by rail?
Yes, directly. SAR’s North network links the port to the Al-Jalamid phosphate deposits and the Az-Zabirah bauxite mine, and to Wa’ad Al-Shamal. Rail is the reason the port exists where it does.
What is the shipyard next to the port?
International Maritime Industries — a complex of about 5 km² with several dry docks and more than 15 piers, able to service more than 15 rigs and 130 ships a year including VLCC repair, and built for commercial shipbuilding at VLCC scale.
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