President His Excellency Hosny Mubarak pays a visit to the Suez Canal Container Terminal

2009 Full year growth figures of 13% expected

On 4^th October 2009 Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) was honored to receive HE President Hosny Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Dr. Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister, a delegation of ministers, as well as General Mostafa Abd El Latif, Governor of Port Said. The field visit was to inspect the developments taken place at the port since commencement of SCCTs operations in 2004. Within the few years the facility turned into one of the most important port facilities in the Mediterranean region.

The President show interest in the achievements at Suez Canal Container Terminal

The President his Excellency visited the Suez Canal Container Terminal, being the largest container terminal in Egypt, to get an update on the port developments in Port Said. The Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) is in the process of becoming one of the largest transhipment centres in the East Mediterranean after the expansion Phase II is completed. Recently SCCT proudly announced securing the terminal and building contracts for Phase II lifting the throughput potential to 5.4 million TEUs annually.

Mr. Jens Floe, SCCT's Managing Director, expressed his delight at President Mubarak's decision to visit to the company's facilities. He mentions "We are very proud of this visit and we applaud the steps the Egyptian government is taking to support and encourage investment in Egypt.

The strategic location with zero deviation that the terminal holds has also contributed to the increase in container handling volumes which is expected to be nearly 15%, compared to last year. In addition, the diverse client portfolio includes 4 of the top ranking international shipping lines.

SCCTs success story ongoing

It should be mentioned, that SCCT started operations in 2004 after the 49 year concession agreement was signed in 1999.  SCCT's facilities occupy an area of 600,000 m2 equipped with 12 Super-Post Panamax quay cranes, 39 RTGs and has an estimated capacity of 2.7 million TEUs. Since October 2004, SCCT has handled more than 4,230,000 TEUs. It also has world-class productivity with over 35 quay crane moves per hour. In August and September the terminal broke an internal record of the previous month consecutively performing a throughput of more than 245.000 TEU per month.

Mr. Jens Floe also confirmed that the completion of the expansion and construction work at Phase II will also see a partial inauguration second quarter of 2010. The focus will be on Egypt and it's achievement of high performance, especially at SCCT.

 About SCCT

In 1999, the Egyptian Government tendered a concession for a container terminal in the new East Port Said Port. A concession agreement was signed with SCCT and in 2004 SCCT commenced terminal operations as the pioneer project in East Port Said Port.

SCCT is an international partnership consisting of Egyptian and foreign investors. APM Terminals, a company registered in the Netherlands and operating more than 50 container terminals, is the biggest shareholder in the partnership (55 per cent of the shares of SCCT). Twenty per cent of the shares are owned by Cosco Pacific, 10 per cent by the Suez Canal Authority, 5 per cent by the National Bank of Egypt and 10 per cent by the private sector.

The terminal is ideally located at the entrance of the Suez Canal, saving shipping lines steaming time and fuel costs. Deepwater draft and high productivity operations enable SCCT’s customers to optimize their regional networks at one of the world’s most important shipping arteries. Each year the Suez Canal has over 8,000 transits by container ships.

About APM Terminals

APM Terminals operates a Global Terminal Network of 48 ports with 19,000 employees in 34 countries. The company provides port management and operations to over 60 liner shipping customers who serve the world’s leading importers and exporters of containerized cargo.

With world headquarters in The Hague, The Netherlands, the company helps to meet the constantly changing needs of the international trade community through high productivity operations and port capacity in economically, environmentally and socially responsible ways.

Leveraging years of shipping experience and the strength of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, APM Terminals had over USD 3 billion in revenues in 2008 and invested USD 723 million in new ports and port projects, complementing 2007's investments of USD 850 million. 

APM Terminals’ goal is to become the port industry’s leading operator.  www.apmterminals.com