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Egyptian President visits SCCT

Egyptian President visits SCCT

Port Said: Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt headed a delegation of senior Egyptian Government Officials including Prime Minister, Dr. Ahmed Nazif and the Governor of Port Said, General Mostafa Abd El Latif, visiting the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) to review the ongoing development and expansion plans of the five-year old facility. SCCT is Egypt's largest container facility - spread out over 600,000 sq mtrs - and has quickly become one of the busiest and most important terminals in the Mediterranean Region since opening in 2004.  

"We are very proud to host His Excellency, President Mubarak, and his delegation" stated SCCT Managing Director Jens Floe, adding "and we applaud the steps the Egyptian Government is taking to support and encourage further investment in Egypt".

"SCCT saw container volume surge by 34% in 2008 to 2.4m teu," the company said in a statement.  "SCCT's container traffic and transshipment growth has continued during 2009, even as the overall global container trade has declined. A new monthly record of 161,477 was established for container moves in August, exceeding the previous record, set in June, by over 11,000 moves. Overall growth for 2009 has been forecast at 13%."

SCCT has seen rapid growth over the past half decade and the development of the transport sector is one of Egypt's key priorities. Proactive initiatives in support of infrastructure and foreign investment have resulted in the expenditure of $3.6bn USD in the Egyptian maritime sector between 2006 and 2008.  An additional $3.4bn is planned for overall maritime sector investment between 2009 and 2011.
 
The current Phase II expansion plans for SCCT will increase annual throughput capacity to 5.4m teu by 2012, creating the largest single terminal in the Mediterranean. Local container volume quadrupled in 2008, while SCCT handles approximately a 20% share of all Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea transshipment moves. SCCT currently ranks 5th among all Mediterranean ports in terms of container volume and 35th globally.

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 with a 55% share. 20% of the shares are owned by Cosco Pacific, 10% by the Suez Canal Authority, 5% by the National Bank of Egypt and 10% per cent by the private sector.

The Egyptian economy has been projected to grow by 4.5% this year, and to average 6.5% annual expansion between 2008 and 2013.  [12/10/09]