Gulftainer highlights Sharjah’s influence on international growth for local business.
Sharjah, UAE. 17 December, 2012. The contribution of local business to Sharjah’s economic growth and, in turn, Sharjah’s impact on propelling those businesses internationally was addressed during the ‘Made in Sharjah International Exhibition and Conference’, this week.
Local port management and logistics company Gulftainer, which was founded in the Emirate in 1976, put forward its view on Sharjah’s increased business influence and how this has impacted the company’s success across the globe.
With recent contracts in Brazil and Lebanon, Gulftainer has worked hard to connect Sharjah to the rest of the world. Two of the Sharjah ports it is responsible for, Port Khalid (Sharjah Container Terminal) and Port Khorfakkan (Khorfakkan Container Terminal), have seen year on year growth of 10.1 per cent over the past 10 years, against a global market growth of just 8.6 per cent. In 2012, Khorfakkan alone saw a volume increase of over 26 per cent, the largest of any port in the UAE/GCC.
The success and anticipated future growth of the region was showcased during the Made in Sharjah event, taking place for the third consecutive year at Sharjah Expo Centre from 17-21 December.
Gulftainer’s Managing Director, Peter Richards said, “We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded the concession to manage the port of Tripoli and are now anxious to begin developGulftainer’s commercial director, Jay New, made a presentation at the conference highlighting the company’s history in the Emirate, and the ways in which Gulftainer and Sharjah have grown together so successfully.
“Having our roots in Sharjah has been extremely important to Gulftainer, wherever in the world we have been working,” New commented. “That we have come from a relatively small and humble heritage to being regarded as the world’s largest, privately owned, port management company, is a significant achievement. This could not have been accomplished without the close cooperation and understanding we have with the Sharjah Authorities”.
“Recognition and celebration of our roots has been a key message that has also been important to those we do business with; they appreciate that we haven’t been afraid to work hard and help Sharjah to evolve and grow further through our efforts.”