UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) handled 400, 000 TEUs as annual throughput in 2014 which is the double digit volume growth of last year, calling for the celebration by Terminal Operator Gulftainer.
Iain Rawlinson, group commercial director of Gultainer, highlighted the professional approach of Gulftainer’s management along with consistently high productivity levels as a driving force behind the terminal’s success.
He added: ” SCT has always marketed itself as ‘The Flexible Alternative’ and the individual attention we extend to our customers offers us an advantage over competitors.”
SCT, which private operator Gulftainer manages on behalf of the Sharjah Port Authority, benefited from the arrival of new services in 2014 including UASC’s Gulf India Service (GIS1), which connects Sharjah with Sohar in Oman, Mundra in India and Karachi in Pakistan.
The UAE-based company’s current handling activity amounts to 6m teu but it is targeting three times that figure over the next decade through organic growth across existing businesses, green field opportunities and potential merger and acquisition (M&A) activities.
At present, Gulftainer’s portfolio extends to Khorfakkan Port and Port Khalid in the UAE, Umm Qasr in Iraq, Recife in Brazil, Jeddah and Jubail in Saudi Arabia and Tripoli Port in Lebanon, which will become operational in April 2016.
Last year, the terminal operator signed a long term agreement to operate the container and multi-cargo terminal at Port Canaveral in Florida, marking its expansion into the US.
