Yemen will soon hold a tender for international companies to expand its container terminal in the port of Aden, despite political unrest in the Middle Eastern country, senior government official told Reuters.

Located near the mouth of the Bab al-Mandab Straits -- through which nearly 7,000 container ships sailed last year laden with over 466 million tonnes of goods -- the government hopes Aden can become an important regional trading port.

DP World Aden, a joint venture between DP World and Yemen Gulf of Aden Port Corporation, operates the existing container handling facilities in the port.

But the poorest Arab country hopes a bigger port on one of the world's busiest shipping routes will boost an ailing economy that has been further damaged by months of anti-government protests.

"We are looking to increase our throughput at the port to increase revenues," the government official said.

"Our agreement with DP World is they expand the quay inside the container terminal from 700 meters to 1,100 meters."

South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung Enginering and China Harbor Engineering Company are among the companies interested in the expansion project, he said, adding that the port investment would be around $155 million over two years.

"This is the pre-bids stage. They are going to gauge their interest and we will issue a tender soon," he said.

Companies have expressed concern about the project due to the political turmoil in Yemen but the government has no plans to delay the project because of the ongoing unrest.

"We have invited them to Yemen. We feel visiting the site would answer a lot of their questions," he said. (Reuters)