Dubai: Gulftainer-operated Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) has taken delivery of another two new container gantries as part of the ongoing expansion of the terminal. The two Liebherr Super Post-Panamax cranes (Megamax) with tandem lift capability are the latest additions to the terminal's equipment, and this brings the total number of gantries at KCT to 18, with a further two (arriving in December) to be added before the expansion is completed.
Speaking of KCT's latest acquisitions, Gulftainer Director and General Manager Peter Richards said, "When the financial crisis first appeared on the horizon we already had plans to expand Khorfakkan to cater to the greater number of large container vessels that were entering the market. As Phase 2 of the expansion nears completion, the wisdom of ... the decision to expand KCT and the Sharjah Container Terminal to deal with more, bigger ships in the future is becoming more evident.'
"Although the ports and shipping industry was quite severely affected by the global crisis, it is important that we continue to build for the future," he continued. "The additional quay extension of over 400 metres at Khorfakkan is now almost ready and with the additional four new state of the art gantries, Sharjah's ports are even more able to service increased numbers of ships, particularly larger vessels.'
Container transhipment port KCT is strategically located on Sharjah's Indian Ocean east coast, outside the sensitive Straits of Hormuz, close to the main east-west shipping routes and only three hours from the UAE's main centres of population, Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. [21/10/09]
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