Sharjah Container Terminal gets new YML service
Paul Hennessy : no decline in volumes in 2009; 2010 off to a good start
The steady flow of containers through the Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) has not diminished as imported goods continue to move to supply the businesses in Sharjah and beyond, according to Sharjah-based terminal and logistics firm Gulftainer, which operates the Terminal on behalf of the Sharjah Ports Authority.
SCT Manager Paul Hennessy confirms that the "we did not see any decline in volume in 2009 and 2010 seems to have started well."
Indicative of this consistency is the arrival of a new regular feeder service operated by Yang Ming Lines (YML), whose 'YM XIAMEN' is now a regular weekly visitor at SCT.
Hennessy welcomes the start of calls by the 350 teu, 107m long vessel. "The ship is easy for us to work and as always, we get first class professional assistance from Yang Ming and their agents. We hope that YML and their customers have a successful 2010 and increased regular business at SCT."
Civil works to improve the facilities at SCT are also moving ahead well with the renovation of Berths 1 through 3 newly completed. The modifications include a new, strengthened quay wall, constructed 3 metres seaward of the existing quay wall, to facilitate dredging work; Mobile Harbour Crane power supply sockets installed along the berths, a new 33kv substation, new bollards and fenders installed along the length of the three berths; and a new interlocked quay surface laid between the seaward and landward rails.
Gulftainer has been operating in the UAE since 1976, and operates two ports in the country, SCT and the Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT). SCT was the first purpose-built and fully-equipped modern Container Terminal in the Middle East, and lies adjacent to Sharjah's industrial area, which accommodates over 45 percent of the non-oil manufacturing capacity of the UAE. It handles containers on behalf of over 30 shipping lines, including all of the world's top 20 companies.
KCT is strategically located on Sharjah's Indian Ocean coast, outside the sensitive Straits of Hormuz and close to the main east-west shipping routes, and is one of the world's leading container transhipment ports with numerous feeder ship connections to Gulf Ports, India, Pakistan and East Africa.