Port Rashid was initially managed by Gray Mackenzie and Co.
Gray Mackenzie and Co were shipping agents so had no Port Management expertise.
They established a subsidiary company, Dubai Port Services, to operate Port Rashid.
Experienced Staff were recruited to staff Dubai Port Services.
DPS managed and operated Port Rashid from 1970 until 1984.
Circa 1976, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia visited Dubai.
Sheikh Rashid took the Crown Prince on a tour of Port Rashid as he did with all his visitors.
Crown Prince commented on how neat and tidy Port Rashid looked.
He asked who managed Port Rashid.
Sheikh Rashid explained Port Rashid was managed by a private company Gray Mackenzie and Co.And Then.....
Port Rashid 1970s
Gray Mackenzie's parent company, The Inchcape Group in London, received an invitation from Saudi Arabia's London Embassy requesting they send their team of Port Experts to Riyadh for discussions with a Government Minister about Jeddah Port.
Inchcape sent the Invitation to Gray Mackenzie Dubai with instructions to respond to the invitation.
Gray Mackenzie had no "Port Experts"!
Outcome was Port Rashid's Port Manager and Engineer joined Gray Mackenzie's Area Managing Director and an Inchcape Director to fly to Riyadh for the meeting with Saudi Government's Deputy Minister of Communications.
Minister made clear Jeddah Port was dysfunctional which hindered import of much needed development materials.
Minister instructed Gray Mackenzie's Team to meet with Jeddah Port's Director General and his Advisors, which they duly did the following day.
Jeddah Port's Director General was welcoming and willing to discuss his problems. His Advisors were mostly retired Indian Navy Admirals with little experience of commercial ports.
Gray Mackenzie's Team indicated what they could possibly offer as solutions. DG arranged for the Team to tour Jeddah Port later that day to see the problems.
Team was driven to Jeddah Port's gates at 3pm that afternoon. After a lengthy wait, two Police Vehicles arrived each carrying four armed Policemen. One vehicle positioned itself on front of the Team's car and the other behind the car.
Policeman in charge said they would conduct the Team on a tour of Jeddah Port but the Team was not to leave their car or take photographs.
So started a slow conducted tour of Jeddah Port.
I have some indelible memories of that tour.
- A very large multi-wheeled hydraulic crane, possibly a 100 tonne lift, was parked on the quayside. The crane had been unloaded from a ship many months before but not moved since. No one knew how to drive this massive crane!
- Security would not let anyone from outside into the Port to drive the crane so there it had stood since being discharged.
- There were stacks of bags filled with cement where the bags had rotted then the stacks had collapsed. Incoming cargoes of cars had been parked along these cement bag stacks before they had collapsed. Now these stacks now collapsed onto the cars. I recall seeing a Lamborghini Uracco rear end sticking out from under a pile of cement bags.
- One storage yard was filled with parked trailers parked carrying containers. Apparently a Roll On Roll Off ship started calling at Jeddah Port. Ship carried Container mounted on road trailers, idea being the trail plus containers would be discharged as a unit then towed by loac truck to the Customer. Saudi Customs had seemingly agreed for the Containers to be imported without realising the Containers would be mounted on trailers. They refused entry for the trailers. So trailers and containers were parked in the Port and forgotten.
- At the Engineering Workshops I saw floors awash with oil. Much later it was discovered the waste oil tank drain was blocked. No effort had been made to clear the drain.
Port Engineer's Recollections.
A week after leaving Saudi Arabia, Gray Mackenzie submitted their proposal to the Deputy Minister of Commuications outlining how GM's proposed to tackle Jeddah Port's problems. Minister accepted Gray Mac's proposal on a cost plus basis but insisted Gray Macs had 1,200 people on site within 30 days of signing the agreement.
Gray Macs had no suitable staff available. However, they did have connections throughout the shipping industry and were able to immediately attract staff by offering well paid short term employment contracts.
Gray Macs met the 30 day deadline of 1,200 people on site. Staff levels subsequently increased to around 2,600.
Gray Macs turned Jeddah Port into a working port. Much needed development materials started to flow through Jeddah Port.
Gray Macs and its people were well rewarded. Later, a new Director General of Sea Ports was appointed. He became unreasonably critical of Gray Mackenzie's activities.
Eventually, Gray Mackenzie's Contract came to an end. By then Jeddah Port was fully functional.
Later, it emerged several British Consultancies, supported by the British Government had been in discussion with Saudi Ports Authority about Jeddah Port.
Seems these Consultancies used their Port Extertise to tell Jeddah Port Authority what they Austhority needed to do to solve the problem.
Gray Mackenzie's approach was to explain to Jeddah Ports Authority what Gray Mackenzie would do to solve Jeddah Port's problems.
Gray Mackenzie and Co were awarded the contract to change Jeddah Port's operations.
Dubai Ports Services was established in 1970 and provided Dubai with a reputation of successful port management. That reputation was upheld by DPS's successors who eventually morphed into DP World in 2005. Since then DP World has become a world leader in Port, Free Zone and LLogistics management.
Dubai Ports International (DPI) began managing Jeddah Ports South Terminal in 1999. DPI merged with Dubai Ports Authority in 2005 to form DP World. DP World continued to manage and expand its partnership with Jeddah Ports Authority.
In 2019, DP World awarded 30-year concession for the South Container Terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port.
Subsequently DP World was awarded a contract to develop a Free Zone Logistics Park alongside the South Contianer Terminal.
