Gulftainer Company – Bucking the economic trend as growth continues
The Gulftainer Company, the privately owned terminal operator based in the Emirate of Sharjah, continues to further build on its magnificent performance of last year by revealing outstanding results for the first quarter of 2012, which show an ever growing volume of trade despite the global economic downturn which has negatively affected many markets, and companies, in the Gulf and wider Indian Ocean region.
Growth figures have shown that Gulftainer's UAE Terminals - Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) and Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) - recorded the highest monthly volumes both independently and combined during the 2011 period, with SCT in particular recording a 19.3% annual volume increase throughout the year. Despite the more challenging economic environment in the UAE, for all businesses in recent years, those companies delivering the right product at the right price, reliably and effectively, have continued to flourish and move forward in the right direction. Gulftainer’s UAE Terminals are continuing to prove that by providing additional services to complement their already globally recognised reputation for high productivity and fast turnaround on even the biggest vessels calling at their the facilities, the customers will always stay with, or return to, the companies that provide good prices for uncompromised services.
Gulftainer's management have been expressing their delight at what has turned out to be the best ever performance in the history of the company with SCT alone showing an overall 16.8% increase in container throughput compared to the same period last year.
Sharjah Container Terminal
Speaking about the exceptional performance in the first quarter of 2012, Gulftainer’s Managing Director, Peter Richards, said: "We are delighted to have achieved such successful results in these early months of 2012. The volume increases in KCT and SCT are an obvious reflection of the trust that customers place in us."
"The records set by Gulftainer demonstrate the increased volume of trade in the region and we remain very optimistic about prospects for the whole region in the coming years. As we continue through 2012, with the help and support of the Sharjah Ports Authority, I believe we can look forward to another prosperous year with more terminal operations, improved facilities and capacity, as we strive to deliver consistent operational performance to all our stakeholders," he added.
SCT, adjacent to Sharjah's industrial area, handles containers on behalf of over 40 shipping lines, including all of the world's top 20 companies and accommodates over 45% of the non-oil manufacturing capacity of the UAE. It has a terminal area of 180,000 sq. m., around 790 metres of quay, 4 berths with 12.5 meters draft and storage facilities for over 9500 TEUs with 250 reefer points.
KCT continues to be recognised as perhaps the world's fastest-operating container terminal whether dealing with smaller ships, or the leviathans of 13,000 teu - which can be accommodated without challenges, and handled promptly and productively in a location which is optimally located to serve the Gulf area and the Indian Ocean. KCT is even now gearing up to handle vessels in excess of this size by the end of the year.
Gulftainer has also been making moves into countries outside the UAE in recent years: one of the first ventures was into Iraq where it now has ports and logistics operations.Other port operations include Ruwais Port in Abu Dhabi which Gulftainer manages on behalf of International Plastics Company Borouge. The expansion of the Borouge polyolefin plant will result in volumes increasing to over 2 million tons plus in 2012.
Gulftainer Brazil has now started operations in the port of Recife in the north East of Brazil. The company was awarded the Port Operator Certification, at the end of 2011, and already has lines queuing up to make use of these new services. The first cargo shipment; which will be a steel consignment, will arrive imminently in the port, with the first containerised cargo to follow shortly.
Also part of the Gulftainer group is Momentum, a third party logistics company focusing on transport, warehousing, container repair and logistics/ freight solutions. Momentum was established in 2008 and now has joint-ventures in operation in Turkey and Pakistan to provide customers with a larger market area. Momentum has grown rapidly and now has offices throughout the region and agents throughout the world – offering unmatched supply chain solutions.
A recent joint venture with TPC Freight Management has created the new Momentum TPC company which has been formed to capitalize on the combined specialist knowledge of the two groups and use this within specific market sectors for their Middle East customers. The new Momentum TPC team is headed up by Alistair Arthur, who has become the Logistics Director, and who has 30 years of experience of providing logistics solutions in the Middle East and is well known within the industry.
These are certainly exciting times in the continued growth and development of the Gulftainer Company, with further joint ventures being reviewed in the Americas and Africa. One thing is certain though, wherever these new ventures take Gulftainer it will always remember its heritage and maintain the high levels of service and productivity in its gateway ports of Sharjah in the UAE and will use the new experiences to build on their already outstanding achievements.
Khorfakkan Container Terminal