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AS Bahrain motors ahead this week with the fastest road cars in the world, the kingdom also plans to master the waves when its new port becomes fully operational.
Despite bad weather elsewhere in the Gulf which delayed shipping the mighty 207m long APL Dalian container ship made its first operational call to the Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) last Wednesday.
The new facility, also known as Bahrain Gateway has been around five years in the building.
Iain Rawlinson, chief commercial officer of APM Terminals Bahrain, said: "The vessel calls as part of a regular weekly service between the Red Sea, India, Pakistan and Bahrain.
"This particular vessel is one of five which run in this service, and she will return in five weeks."
Standing on reclaimed land at Hidd, the new facility occupies a 900,000sq/m site which, although around the same size as the old Mina Salman facility, will have vastly expanded capabilities.
Its storage capacity is more than double that of Mina Salman, which is 45-years-old, and the increase in water depth from 10.5m to 15m enables docking of larger ships.
The new port is equipped with four enormous 61m cranes, which can unload vessels up to 18 cargo containers across, and there is the option to increase this capacity up to 12 cranes as demand grows.
With the KBSP's 1.8km quayside length, this would allow loading or unloading of up to four 300m long ships at a time.
Initially KBSP will have a throughput capacity of up to 1.1 million TEUs (20 foot equivalent units) and, with room to expand, this could increase to three million TEUs.
The new port will operate under the auspices of the General Organisation of Sea Ports which was founded by Government order in 2006 with the mission of regulating, developing and promoting the kingdom's maritime and logistics zones and providing world class ports and services.
It will be run, on a 25 year contract, by APM Terminals, one of the biggest port operators in the world, which has invested $62million in the project.
APM Terminals is responsible for assisting in the safe maneuverings of vessels through Bahrain's channel, the berthing and securing of the vessel and the loading and discharging of its containers.
