LOCAITON

Yanbu' al Bahr (Arabic, “spring by the sea”), industrial and port city in Saudi Arabia, located on the Red Sea coast in Madinah Province, about 350 km (about 220 mi) north of Jiddah. About one third of the city’s 185 square kms consists of industrial sites.

Yanbu has a great advantage in its location. It is very near to the Suez Canal opening it to the European market for its produces. Yanbu is in the middle of Americas and the Far East. The city is located far off from the major oil fields of the Kingdom but intra-country pipelines convey crude oil and natural gas liquid to the petrochemical industries

History

‘Yanbu', as the city is commonly known, is the western terminus of parallel pipelines that carry liquefied natural gas and oil across nearly 1300 km (nearly 800 mi) of desert and mountains. The town is a growing industrial center with three large oil refineries, a petrochemical complex, and a large desalination plant. Industries using gas and oil as raw materials make a variety of consumer products, including plastics. Yanbu' is connected with the rest of the country by a modern highway system. It also has an airport, a large commercial port, and a naval base. During the 1st millennium BC Yanbu' al Bahr was a stopping point for merchant caravans on the incense route that extended from Yemen to the Mediterranean Sea. Later it also served as a resting site for Muslim pilgrims traveling to Mecca and Medina. In 1975 the Saudi government chose Yanbu and Al Jubayl, a small town on the Persian Gulf coast, to be developed as modern industrial cities. Both play a central role in diversifying Saudi Arabia's economic base so that the country is not dependent solely on crude oil exports

Developments

Twenty years ago, all that could be seen at Yanbu was an insignificant Red Sea fishing port, surrounded by an arid coastal plain. Today, Yanbu Industrial City together with its port ranks as one of the exporting giants of the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The construction of this ultra-modern industrial base in such a short time must surely be counted as one of the Kingdom's most astonishing achievements.

Back in the 1960s, Saudi Arabia's vast petroleum deposits were still being largely extracted by foreign countries, thirty years on from the first discovery of oil. The dramatic rise in oil prices, however, which began in the early seventies, heralded a glowing social and economic future for the Kingdom. The dream to establish Saudi Arabia as a top worldwide industrial exporter could at last begin to take shape.

The first step was taken with a Royal Decree in 1975, which first established the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. In 1977, after two years of hard work, the Commission completed a 30-year Master Plan, which laid down guidelines for the conversion of a staggering 54,362 acres (22,000 hectares) of undeveloped desert land for residential and industrial use.

Industries

Four basic industrial categories were to be established. The first category, Primary Industries, incorporated all petroleum-based or energy-intensive industries. Secondary Industries included production industries using raw materials from the first category. Support Industries and Light Manufacturing Industries were categorized as those which produce materials or services needed by the first two categories.

Industrial City & Royal Commission

The new Industrial City of Yanbu was planned as the spearhead for the modernization of the whole of Saudi Arabia's rural northwestern coastal region. It would also provide a new strategic outlet on Red Sea shipping lanes, to handle most of the Kingdom's sea-borne trade. Planners envisaged a city with housing and lifestyle facilities second to none, and an urban population, which would exceed 100,000 by the year 2020. The Royal Commission planned 14 neighborhoods, or residential districts in the new city, which was to be known as "Yanbu Industrial City" (Madinat Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah).

After an initial injection of government money, the strategy was to provide incentives for increasing private investment. The Royal Commission sought to achieve this by the establishment of functioning primary and support industries, and by building an attractive residential environment for both management and workforce. The Commission's first priority was therefore to establish a physical infrastructure, capable of supplying the needs of this growing urban community.

The city of Yanbu epitomizes practicality, efficiency and respect for tradition, and represents one of Saudi Arabia's supreme achievements.

Yanbu Industrial City is being developed under the direction of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. Established in 1975 the Commission is responsible for providing the entire infrastructure, both physical and social, needed to construct and operate the huge industrial developments at Jubail and Yanbu. In addition, the Royal Commission is in charge of community and human resources development, environmental protection and the promotion of private-sector investment in two cities. Yanbu is currently host to 15 heavy hydrocarbons, petrochemical and mineral facilities as well as 30 light manufacturing and support industries. There are many big industries in the pipeline at various stages of construction. In Yanbu the world-class refining and petrochemical complexes convert oil and natural gas into products for export and into feedstock for local manufacturers.

The required infrastructure like power, road, port, desalination unit for providing drinking water and telecommunications network are available in both the cities. The Royal Commission’s role in industrial development of this area is substantial.

Telecommunications

Yanbu’s telecommunications systems provide modern, citywide communications services, as well as linkage to the rest of the world. These systems were installed incrementally; starting with interim facilities geared to construction support operations. These included land and mobile telephone networks, telex equipment; microwave links Mobile Radio, Paging System and emergency services. Later, marine radio for the port, air traffic control systems for Yanbu Airport and cable television were added.
The Yanbu telephone system offers fully automatic access to domestic and international networks, thanks to a broad range of technologies, microwave systems, a satellite relay and digital switching.
A top requirement for modern international business is an efficient communications system, and again the Royal Commission surpassed itself. Direct dial fiber-optic and satellite relays carry telephone, telex and fax communications around the world, and a new cable TV station broadcasts programs throughout the day. Over 12,000 telephone and four telex lines can handle 168 simultaneous users on a 'time share' system and by a mobile radio paging system. The Emergency Services Control Centre is computer-controlled.

Roads

Yanbu Industrial City parallels King Abdul Aziz Road, the highway connecting Jeddah-Madinah Highway and communities up the coast. Six lanes wide within the city, this main artery forms the spine of the industrial development in the area. Feeder and collector roads branch off to community and industrial zones.

The Yanbu road network, which consists of nearly 460 Kilometers of paved surface, provides for rapid, safe and convenient travel within the city. The primary road grid in the residential area helps define and enclose the community’s 14 districts. Traffic flow is regulated by a computerized and synchronized traffic control system.

Besides roads, pedestrian paths link residential zones with neighboring commercial centers and other high-use areas, such as apartments, schools and recreational facilities. Pleasantly landscaped, those paths are an integral part of the community’s open-space and recreation plan, and greatly contribute to Yanbu’s “pedestrian-friendly” city layout.

Airport

Yanbu Airport is located six Kilometers from Yanbu Al-Bahr and 25 Kilometers from the industrial city. In use since 1979, the airport includes a 3,210-meter-long, 45-meter-wide runway, with a control tower and passenger terminal, requisite navigational systems, and modern cargo handling facilities. Although most of the air traffic consists of small and medium-sized aircraft, B-747 Jumbo Jets and even the Concorde have used the airport on occasion.

Yanbu Airport currently handles regularly scheduled flights by Saudi Arabian Airlines to and from Jeddah and Riyadh.

Yanbu – King Fahd Industrial Port

Yanbu Commercial Port is located on the East coast of Red Sea approximately 460 nautical miles South of Suez Canal and 168 nautical miles (128 miles/206 km) North-West of Jeddah and has storage facilities for all types of goods, in addition to a modern pilgrims’ hall. It is a natural harbor sheltered by the mainland to the North and East and by coral reefs to the South and South-East. It is reached by a mile long channel.

Extending along 15 Kilometers of coastline, Yanbu’s King Fahd Industrial Port is the largest oil and Petrochemical exporting complex on the Red Sea. Completed by the Royal Commission in 1982 and operated by the Saudi Arabian Seaports Authority since 1984, the port comprises seven terminals with 25 berths, a service harbor, bulk cargo and container handling equipment, and marine support facilities. The port handles crude oil from the Eastern Province delivered through the East-West Pipelines.

Over the years, the crude oil terminal has pumped billions of barrels of oil destined for markets around the world.

Dredged to a depth of 32 meters, the terminal consists of four loading berths connected to shore by a trestle and causeway. Two berths can be used concurrently providing maximum loading rate of 300,000 barrels per hour.

Yanbu Commercial Port is the nearest major Saudi seaport to Europe and North America and is the focal point of the most rapidly growing area on the Red Sea. Traditionally it has served as the nearest gateway for seaborne pilgrims bound for the holy city of Madinah. Port expansion in 1979 increased the capacity to nine berths with modern facilities and equipment. It can handle in excess of 3 million tons of cargo per year.

Yanbu Commercial Port played a major role in development of many refineries and project plants by handling huge quantities of general cargo, project cargo, heavy lifts, containers and various construction material (including bulk cement / clinker) in the early years. Today export of bulk cement and clinker is handled at this port. Millions of tons of bulk-barley is regularly handled at this port for onward distribution to various parts of the country.

The construction of the new port facilities at Yanbu probably ranks as the greatest single item in the city's amazing transformation.

In many ways, the community’s open space is as important as its built-up areas. Dense development may save on infrastructure costs, but usually at the expense of quality of life. As a result, a monumental landscaping program has been implemented. Now, residential neighborhoods, public buildings, roadsides, and even factory boundaries feature a variety of plant life.
To date, over 250,000 trees and shrubs have been planted at Yanbu amid some 1500 hectares of grass and other ground cover.
Irrigation of planting is simplified by a network of underground pipes that conveys water to spot drippers and sprinklers. Most of the water used for irrigation is reclaimed potable water that has been upgraded in the Treatment Plant

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