Saudi Arabia 1982: The Riyadh Dry Port (Essay Sample)

Dry Port
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Introduction
The Riyadh dry port is in Riyadh town Saudi Arabia and came into use in 1982. It was first set up to allow importers to import their cargo passing through King Abulaziz port situated in Dammam using train. King Abdul Aziz is the chief port in Saudi Arabia and most of the imports pass through this port. It is a busy port and earns the country a great deal of revenue. People needed a way to transport their cargo from the port to Riyadh city hence the establishment of Riyadh dry port. The idea of constructing a railway line in Saudi Arabia rose early in the 1940s to transport the products that needed transportation to the Aramco (Arabian American Oil Company). This research paper explores the Riyadh dry port situated in Riyadh city.
During the 1940s, the country realized that there was a lot of cargo that needed shipment to Dhahran as it was the location of the company’s (Aramco) warehouse. This pressing need let to the Aramco Company coming up with an idea of constructing a railway line connecting to Dhahran. Later the Aramco company still say saw that there was the need to establish another railway connecting to Riyadh city. The company felt there was the need for a commercial port where ships carrying the company’s equipment, would dock. Besides this, the company outlined the economic benefits such a port would bring to the city. The establishment of this port also would also boost the economy of a country. King Abdul Aziz received the idea with enthusiasm, and he saw it as a wise way of investment. He approved the extension of the railway line to Riyadh city.
Initially, the port was under Aramco Company's management. The company, recruitment of workers, clearance of customs at the port, besides other activities, controlled all the activities of the port. The company had such mandate since most of the cargo that were shipped through this port belonged to the company. Nevertheless, with time the, railway line was handed over to the railway department. However, the port was not doing so well under the management of the railways department. Soon the Saudi Railways Organization transformed into a public corporation. The organization acquired legal status as a legal entity that could run its operations independently and was liable or its own actions. This meant that the company risked facing prosecution in case of participating in any illegal vices. Being a public corporation, a board of directors was to manage the organization and Abulaziz Al- Hokail was the president of the corporation.
For the overall increase in performance of the ports, the need to privatize Saudi Railways Organization arose. To attract foreign investments in the sector there need arose to privatize the enterprise since many foreign investors are scared of government involvement due to political instabilities. Private investors were also hesitant to invest in the sector due to the belief that public corporations are corrupt due to the involvement of government. With an aim of boosting, the national performance of the country there was the need for privatizing the corporation. The official launching of Riyadh Dry port in 1981 after which it recorded a gradual increase in the containers the port handled.
The Saudi Railway Organization manages Riyadh dry port. It is among the railway lines that are managed SRO. The organization operates an extensive line, which approximately measures 1,380 kilometers. The extensive railway starts from Dammam; king Abdul Aziz port to Riyadh city in Riyadh port. The connection of the two ports is through other sub stations such as Abqaiq and Al-Ahsa. The line is an important economic base in the country as it connects industrial sites with agricultural hence used to transport farm products to the industries for manufacturing and processing. The railway also connects military sites, therefore, equipments of war as well as food products for the militants reaches in good time. The railway line has helped open up areas for settling and farming. For instance, the Abqaiq and Al-Ahsa towns opened up after the extension of the line to Riyadh city, thus connecting various residential sites.
Riyadh dry port has exceptional features that make it unique from other ports. The port is of approximately 918,600 sq. m and comprises of six warehouses and each warehouse measures approximately, 6400 sq. m. there is a special cold temperature warehouse with different subdivisions, where each section can maintain different temperatures with respect to the specific required temperatures. The port has an electric generator as a backup power plan, therefore; the port does not experience power problems. Therefore, the port ensures continued activities even in the event of power loss. In addition, the electric generator also provides power for refrigeration purposes hence; the port can also store perishable goods. The electric generator also helps to cut down on operation costs by reducing costs expended in electricity. The management may use the extra funds to improve the overall performance of the port.
The port ensures that all the staff has appropriate environments for working. The offices are spacious enough the maintenance of the premises is commendable through frequent clean-ups ad repairs. All the staff from the port, the customs personnel, the shipping officers, and agents as well has presentable offices to operate from them. The port is equipped with up-to-date machinery to load and off load cargo. Machinery is much easier to manage in contrast to human labor as they are not vulnerable to injury. The traditional manual methods of packing cargo into the containers are no longer applied. Transportation of containers from the trains to the specific warehouses for storage is by rail. Labor skills are in other fields such as maintenance of the machinery, administration such as documentation and receipting and the general operations of the port as making and receiving payments.
The human resource department rewards its staff appropriately to keep them motivated. Motivated staff members are more productive than unmotivated staff members are. An incentive scheme program is a scheme established in companies with an aim of rewarding and motivating their employees. Incentives also apply as an arrangement to attract new customers and maintain the existing ones. There are various types of incentive and different companies normally adopt the programs that suitably correlate with their operations. A company will as well adopt a program in accordance to their intended effect. Workers at Riyadh port receive incentives in different forms. Incentives can be inform of vacations, or monetary rewards. Different programs are for different purposes and for different audiences. There are incentive programs that are for customers, and the intended outcome is the increase in the sales volume. The port also offers discounts on storage fees for customers to attract and retain customers. Incentives programs for employees are internal and target at increasing the overall performance of the workers. This feature of incentives has led to many scientists and analysts referring to them as a pay for performance
The port has equipments to lift cranes. In addition, the port has gear devices to assist in handling various volumes and weights of substances. Therefore, the port is not limited to the kind of cargo it can handle and, therefore, it diversifies the areas of specialization while increases chances of profit making. Among its assets is a fleet of vans, which move goods by road from the port to the merchant’s warehouses. All units in the port have in built TV systems to monitor used for security purposes. This security system minimizes chances of theft and fraud. All warehouses are under monitoring using these cameras, therefore. Besides loss of cargo, the system secures the equipments of the port because they are also vulnerable to robbery. The commitment of the security personnel also plays a role in securing the port. The port provides uniforms to the security officers and ensures their replacement after every 6 months. The port houses its staff by providing residential units to the workers. Professional construction companies contracts with the management of the port to build and maintain the housing units. Therefore, the residential units are in a good state, and there is a restaurant built for the workers to buy high quality foods at a reasonable rate. The workers are able to access health care from the clinic built by the port as a way of maintaining a healthy work force. What’s more, the management of the port has provided a mosque for spiritual nourishment of the people. All workers have equal chances of living in the residential units, and there is no discrimination.
Riyadh is a very busy port and offers very many services to customers the major service being receipting the consignments. The consignment may be of vehicles, machinery equipments, and containers besides other general merchandise. Shipments directly from Dammam, King Abdul-Aziz port get clearance at Riyadh port before distribution to the owners. The port prepares documents required in the documentation processes of storage and inspection. The processing of the documents used the receipt and dispatch of merchandise takes place at the port during clearance of customs. Such documents serve as evidence for future reference or in case of future complaints. All goods entering the port must undergo documentation since even if they are not stored in they have to undergo inspection before release from the port.
The port receipts refrigerated containers for the perishable goods. The port’s management ensures maintenance of the right temperatures in the containers to preserve the perishable goods. Such containers need a lot of experti...