Khorfakkan cements position as region’s leading transhipment hub
High productivity, fast transit, direct connections all help to cut costs.
Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT), located in Sharjah in the UAE, and operated by leading regional port management and logistics firm Gulftainer, is continuing to cement its position as the region's leading transshipment hub, and will now be able to offer the fastest direct transit from the Gulf region to Japan.
This follows the recent upgrade of the CMA-CGM MEX Asia-Mediterranean Service, which has been calling weekly at KCT since February this year, and has been upgraded to include the ports of Nagoya, Yokohama and Kobe in Japan.
Speaking of this development, Gulftainer Group Director and General Manager Peter Richards said, "KCT is ideally located to act as a relay point for containers throughout the region, and with the addition of the Nagoya, Yokohama and Kobe ports in Japan to the MEX service, KCT will now be a true hub between the Mediterranean, Middle East and Asia regions, offering traders in the Gulf the fastest, most direct route to Japan."
As KCT continues to reinforce its reputation as a regional hub through the addition of new and expanded services, the terminal is also impressing on a productivity front. With the addition of two new gantry cranes earlier this year, KCT is even better equipped to handle larger container ships efficiently. Some of the world's largest containerships have called at KCT over the past few months, including the 11,400 teu 'CMA CGM Andromeda', which at 364 metres long, is the biggest container vessel to call at a UAE port. The ship is also one of the most eco friendly vessels afloat, equipped with the very latest environmental technology such as the multi-chamber compactor for sorting out garbage on board for recycling, electronic injection engine to reduce fuel and oil consumption, and the Fast Oil Recovery System, a pioneering pollution prevention technique installed for the first time on a container ship. All have been impressed with the productivity and efficiency of the terminal which is getting even better!
Says Richards: "In these challenging economic times, high productivity, competitive transit times, and direct connections can all help cut down on costs. Khorfakkan is already recognised as probably the number 1 port in the world as far as productivity is concerned - a position recently re-affirmed with an amazing record-breaking vessel productivity of 295 moves per hour achieved recently - and we have proven time and again that we are well equipped to deal with the increasingly very sizeable container ships. We are committed to delivering the best, most cost-effective terminal and transport services in the region, particularly given the current economic environment."
KCT is one of the world's leading container transhipment ports, and is strategically located outside the sensitive Straits of Hormuz, close to the main east-west shipping routes. Only three hours from the UAE's main centres of population, Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, KCT is an ideal transhipment hub port with numerous feeder ship connections to Gulf Ports, India, Pakistan, East Africa and Asia.