Makkah Province · SAKAC

Hull Cleaning at King Abdullah Port

In-water hull, propeller and survey work at King Abdullah Port — Saudi Arabia's newest deep-water Red Sea terminal.

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Tell us the vessel, the port and the window. Scoped reply, usually the same working day.

Cleanship Marine provides the full underwater scope at King Abdullah Port (SAKAC), Makkah Province — hull cleaning, propeller super polishing, bow and stern thruster work, class-approved in-water survey and UWILD. Every scope is carried out with the vessel afloat and on hire, at the berth or at the anchorage.

King Abdullah Port is Saudi Arabia's newest deep-water container and RoRo gateway, built to serve the industrial city at Rabigh and to take Red Sea transhipment volume. Traffic is liner container and vehicle tonnage on fixed rotations.

Working conditions at King Abdullah Port

King Abdullah Port is a modern privately operated terminal north of Jeddah, deep-water, well sheltered and run to high productivity — which means access is a commercial decision by the terminal as much as a port one, and it needs arranging in advance. Red Sea water here is warm and hypersaline with the fouling rate that implies. Alongside work runs year-round; summer heat is the constraint on anything enclosed.

Where we work: Container terminal berths · RoRo and bulk berths · Anchorage
Vessels we see here: Main-line and feeder container ships · Pure car and truck carriers · Bulk carriers

Hull Cleaning scopes at King Abdullah Port

5 scopes, one team and one mobilisation. Most vessels calling here take more than one on the same attendance.

Planning the window at King Abdullah Port

The northerly Red Sea wind governs the calendar at King Abdullah Port, strongest through the winter and spring. The Red Sea runs a persistent along-axis wind that builds a short chop at the anchorages while the berths stay workable, so the constraint here is almost always the anchorage rather than the season. Because the harbour is sheltered, work here normally runs alongside or at a protected anchorage and can proceed in parallel with cargo operations rather than competing with them for the berth window.

Work is taken at the container terminal berths, RoRo and bulk berths, anchorage, and which of those a vessel ends up at changes the dive plan more than the season does. Teams mobilise via Jeddah (JED), so give us the ETA as early as you have it — the travel is the flexible part, the approvals and the working window are not.

What we typically find at King Abdullah Port

Container tonnage on a fixed rotation shows the familiar pattern: light slime over most of the vertical sides, with the real accumulation in the flat bottom, the bilge keels and the niches where flow is slowest. Those are the areas that cost fuel and the ones a quick clean tends to skip.

Shelter is a mixed blessing for a hull. The same calm that makes the port easy to work in is still water, and still water grows fouling faster than an exposed berth does.

How we deliver it at King Abdullah Port

1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the coating specification and the window at King Abdullah Port. We come back with a defined scope, a crew size and a duration we will stand behind. Where the conditions here will not support what has been asked for, we say so at this stage rather than after mobilisation.
2
Permits and approvals
Access at King Abdullah Port is the terminal operator's decision as much as King Abdullah Port and Mawani's, so both are in the approval chain from the start — a berth-side refusal discovered at the gangway costs the whole attendance. Diving permission, terminal approval and any environmental clearance for in-water work are handled by us, not left with the agent to chase.
3
Mobilisation to King Abdullah Port
Divers, compressors, brush carts and cameras mobilise via Jeddah (JED). Where a vessel is also calling at Jeddah, one mobilisation is normally sized to cover both.
4
Safety setup and the dive
The vessel is secured for diving — main engine, shaft and thrusters immobilised, sea suctions confirmed shut, permit agreed with the master. Teams work under surface supervision with continuous diver communications and video throughout.
5
Report and handover
A completion report covering hull cleaning is issued with before-and-after imagery, coating and anode condition and anything found that you should know about. The findings are discussed with the vessel rather than emailed and forgotten.

King Abdullah Port at a glance

UN/LOCODE: SAKAC
Port type: Private Port
State: Makkah Province
Country: Saudi Arabia
Water body: Red Sea
Port authority: King Abdullah Port and Mawani
Main cargoes: Containers and transhipment, RoRo and vehicles, Dry bulk, General cargo
Crew mobilisation: Jeddah (JED)
Services here: Hull Cleaning and Hold Cleaning

Frequently asked — King Abdullah Port

Does Cleanship provide hull cleaning at King Abdullah Port?

Yes. We cover the full hull cleaning scope at King Abdullah Port (SAKAC), Makkah Province — underwater hull cleaning, propeller polishing, thruster cleaning & polishing, in-water class survey and UWILD. Teams mobilise via Jeddah (JED).

What is underwater visibility like at King Abdullah Port?

Visibility at King Abdullah Port is moderate, and it drops further around active bulk handling and after heavy rain, and the northerly Red Sea wind sets the outer limits of the calendar. How the tide and sea state shape the dive plan is set out in full in the working-conditions section on this page.

Who approves hull cleaning work at King Abdullah Port?

King Abdullah Port and Mawani issues the port-side approval at King Abdullah Port, with terminal approval on top where the berth requires it. We arrange both, along with any environmental clearance for in-water cleaning, so it does not fall to the agent or the master.

Which vessels call at King Abdullah Port?

Main-line and feeder container ships, Pure car and truck carriers, Bulk carriers — King Abdullah Port is Saudi Arabia's newest deep-water Red Sea terminal, handling containers and transhipment, RoRo and vehicles, dry bulk, general cargo. Wetted area, coating specification and how long the vessel has been sitting are what size a hull job, so the same berth can produce very different attendances.

Can this be done without taking the vessel off hire at King Abdullah Port?

Yes — that is the point of it. Every scope listed here is carried out with the vessel afloat and working, at the berth, at the anchorage or on the passage out. Divers work with the vessel afloat at the berth or the anchorage, so there is no dry dock, no diversion and no off-hire.

Do you cover other ports near King Abdullah Port?

Yes. Jeddah, Yanbu and Dammam all sit within the same operating range for hull cleaning, and a single mobilisation is often sized to cover more than one vessel on the same trip. We work 65 ports on the coverage list for this line.

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