The King Fahd Industrial Port (KFIP) in Yanbu Tuesday received Korean ship Dongbang Jiant 3, which is carrying the world’s largest water desalination equipment to be installed at the water desalination plant in Yanbu.

The Yanbu plant along the same coast produces about 124 million cubic meters of water, and supplies it to Madinah, Yanbu and the surrounding areas. The Shuqaiq plant produces 11 million cubic meters and supplies it to Asir and Jazan.

KFIP Director General Saleh Al-Haddad said: “The operational efficiency of the port and its capacity allows dealing with such giant cargo. At the same time, this unit is the second of the four units to be installed in the Yanbu desalination plant.”

Saudi Arabia remains the world’s largest producer of desalinated water. “The desalination plants produced 955 million cubic meters of water in 2012, which is an increase of 7.8 percent compared to the previous year,” said Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) Gov. Abdul Rahman Al-Ibrahim.

The ever-increasing demand for water has prompted the government to sign several multibillion-dollar contracts to establish new desalination facilities across the Kingdom, in addition to renovating existing plants to prolong their life expectancy from 25 years to 40 years.

 
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