Gulftainer hold public seminars highlighting the value of Sharjah's ports

Two of Sharjah's many success stories are the Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (SAIF), located next to the booming Sharjah International Airport and the Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ). With thousands of companies between them and both occupying large and expanding sites, these two flourishing areas are increasingly the Free Zones of choice in a UAE environment where cost and accessibility are key factors.

Gulftainer's Keith Nuttall drew attention to the developments at their Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) where the Phase 1 expansion - comprising 400 metres of quay with 16 m draft and 4 new Super Post Panamax gantry cranes - was completed in 2006 - with phase 2 now underway.

Containers transported by road for local markets on the well established bonded mini bridge to the Sharjah ICD continue to move quickly and efficiently. The SICD is now seen to be in an ideal location for customers in Sharjah and Dubai to take delivery of their containers, situated as it is outside Sharjah city between the Emirates Road and the Dubai Outer Ring Road, close to the main road from the East Coast and the airport and away from areas of major congestion.

Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) is also benefiting from the UAE's remarkable economic expansion as lines and their customers increasingly appreciate the cost efficient convenience of the well established terminal ideally placed to serve a wide swathe of the UAE without some of the major infrastructural delays in other areas. The expansion of SCT, with new equipment and work to improve draft underway at present, was also explained and illustrated.

A further seminar open to all is to be held together with the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce at the New Sharjah Expo Centre at 10am on Wednesday 2nd May.