The new cruise terminal planned for Jeddah Islamic Port in Saudi Arabia will form part of a redevelopment of the area that will include a marina and a total revamp of the city’s waterfront.

The new Jeddah Cruise Terminal will be designed by Jeddah Central Development Company (JCDC), the master developer of the Jeddah Central Project, according to an MoU signed Tuesday with Cruise Saudi, a government agency tasked with growing Saudi Arabia’s cruise sector.

The Jeddah Central Project is a US $20-billion redesign of the waterfront area of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s largest Red Sea port city.

The cruise terminal will form part of the transformational Jeddah Central Project

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The project will include an oceanarium, opera house and sports stadium, as well as more than 17,000 residential units, 2,700 hotel rooms, a marina, beaches and several parks covering about 40 percent of the project area.

The waterfront redevelopment is being rolled out in three stages. The first will include the creation of one of the largest public beaches in Jeddah, with a pier, marina, park and playground alongside the promenade, and is scheduled for completion by 2027.

Phase two will see the addition of parks, schools, mosques and a library, as well as a coral bay, and a smart technology-equipped museum. Completion is planned for 2030, beyond which the third phase will begin, which will involve the construction of hospitals and a new cultural district.

The cruise terminal will be located within the new marina being developed

The Jeddah Cruise Terminal will form part of the first phase. JCDC and Cruise Saudi will collaborate on the design, which will see the new terminal form part of the marina development within the port area.

“Together we will explore the myriad of opportunities the luxury cruise operations will create within the JCD project, to provide the finest marine experience,” said Lars Clasen, CEO of Cruise Saudi.

In a press release, Cruise Saudi said that the new cruise terminal and marina will position Jeddah as a maritime leisure hub and support the growth of the country’s cruise tourism industry. Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah port is already used as a homeport annually by MSC Cruises, but the current cruise terminal, a converted ferry terminal, is not feasible for the kind of growth Cruise Saudi is expecting.

It’s anticipated that in the coming years Jeddah will host several cruise lines annually through the winter cruise season, welcoming more than 1 million passengers each year. Only Dubai in the UAE sees numbers close to that at present.