DP World has inked a series of civil construction contracts for its new Container Terminal 4 which will add 4.1m teu in capacity to the largest port in the Middle East.

The contract signed between DP World chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem and contractors Dutco Balfour Beatty and BAM International Abu Dhabi, covers Phase 1 of development at Terminal 4 to be completed by 2018.

Dutco Balfour Beatty will construct 1,200 m of yard area and quay, while BAM International Abu Dhabi builds 2.2 km of quay wall with an alongside depth of 18 m, a 400 m bridge, and adjacent causeways. The first phase will take the capacity of the port to 22.1m teu.

“We will deploy the latest technology in equipping our quays and yards, and run them with the most sophisticated terminal operation systems. We are building Terminal 4 from the ground up, which enables us to future proof it for smart container ships emerging in the future,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.

New technology employed at terminal 4 includes 13 of the world’s largest quay cranes, run semi-autonomously from a control room off the quayside, as well as 35 Automated Rail Mounted Gantry cranes (ARMG).

On Phase 1’s planned completion in 2018, DP World will further expand Terminal 4’s capacity, under Phase 2, to a total of 7.8m teu, bringing online additional operational yard with a quay length of 1,000m to be constructed by Dutco Balfour Beatty.

The ninth largest port in the world, Jebel Ali has been able to maintain high 90% utilisation despite breakneck developments, with Terminal 3 only just having opened for business in late 2014. The port, in combination with DP World’s other UAE terminals, handled 15.6m teu throughout 2015.