Direct Discharge

The first approach channel to Mina Salman was started in 1954 and construction contracts for the original pier placed in 1956. Named after the present Amir's Grand Father, Shaikh Salman Bin Hamed Al Khalifa. 
Mina Salman began its operation in 1962 with the opening of the first deep water wharf which allowed berthage for six vessels. This new facility provided deep water vessels the luxury of discharging their cargoes directly into the port warehouses for the first time. 

Storage and berthing capacity kept pace with Mina Salman's total tonnage throughput during the 1960s to 1970. By 1975, however, cargo throughput had increased by 50 per cent due to the ever increasing demand for imported goods within the Gulf. In the two years up to 1976, tonnage throughput again increased ty a further 100 per cent and by 1977 the port was handling two million tonnes of  cargo.

Extreme Congestion

etermined to modernise the port and improve efficiency to save a situation that was becoming progressively intolerable, the Government rushed portable jetties from Singapore. These were attached to wharfs to allow Mina Salman to gain the distinction of being the first Gulf port to free itself from a congestion which had existed generally in the region for a number of years. To upkeep this enhanced situation, the Government then put into action a US$170 million Port Development Programme. The Plan, completed in 1979, laid special emphasis on the need to employ the latest technology in handing modern sea transport, especially containerised cargo.