Aurecon, a global engineering and infrastructure advisory company, played a key role in designing solutions that ensured the Qatari construction industry a steady and reliable supply of gabbro, a construction material for concrete and asphalt.

The company provided the vital design, delivery, advisory and asset management services to Qatar Primary Materials Company (QPMC) for the key Bulk Material Handling System (BMHS) project, said the company in a statement.

Thanks to its global bulk ports experience and sophisticated modelling technology, Aurecon could help the Port of Umm Sa’id almost double its capacity and boost the country’s building materials supply chain, it stated.

Aurecon pointed out that with Qatar embarking on an ambitious infrastructure programme in preparation for the FIFA 2022 World Cup, it was boom time for the country’s construction sector.

One of the key aspects to ensuring the country meets its bold construction targets will be the reliable supply of building materials, said the statement.

The vast majority of building materials in the country are supplied by QPMC, through its Port of Umm Sa’id terminal. In response to Qatar’s massive infrastructure development programme, QPMC initiated an expansion of the port, to boost the annual flow of gabbro through the terminal from 16.6 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 30 mtpa. The plan for doing this revolved around  making better usage of the facility’s existing Berths 2 and 3, and the six unloading cranes operating on those berths, stated Aurecon. 

Eisa Al Hammadi, the chief executive officer of QPMC, said: “One of our primary goals is to maintain strategic reserves of primary building materials to ensure we can supply materials at any time the need arises.”

“We hold rich reserves that can address the current market requirements when it comes to primary materials such as gabbro,” he stated. 

Based on decades of experience in delivering and increasing throughput of some of the largest terminals in the world, Aurecon’s approach for its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract focused on the performance and efficiency of the proposed infrastructure and the integration of the new terminal facilities with both the upstream and downstream supply chain processes.

Glenn Hallahan, Aurecon’s project director, said the key to the success of this project was understanding the ultimate requirements and aligning all stakeholders to support them.

“At the time, we had recently assisted with the expansion of the Port of Fujairah in the UAE; so, in our first review of the project, we knew that a more detailed understanding of the impact on the supply chain would be required,” explained Hallahan.

“We recommended advanced simulation modelling to evaluate the likely effects of the new design,” he added.

Aurecon also worked with QPMC to bring better efficiency to the portside stockyard. Aurecon showed how consignees should collect their cargo within 21 days to ensure the stockyard always has space to unload other ships in the queue.