Khorfakkan gets another connection

The first call was made by the 6,500 TEU 'CMA-CGM Balzac' on Tuesday 10 February en-route to ports in South-East Asia, China and Korea from a range of Mediterranean ports.

Situated conveniently on the Emirate of Sharjah's Indian Ocean east coast, KCT has been increasingly recognised in recent years not only for its ideal location in serving the countries of the region, but also for of its efficiency and productivity. Such attributes are always important, but in the current economic climate where shipping lines and all businesses are facing challenges on an unprecedented scale, these factors become not only important - but essential.

CMA-CGM have been major customers of KCT for some years, using the terminal as a major hub, covering the Gulf, South Asia and Africa and - as a result of re-working schedules to improve efficient connections - the Mex Service (Mediterranean Club Express) will now be calling at KCT on a weekly basis.

Gulftainer Group Director and General Manager Peter Richards commented on the arrangement:

"Despite the rather downbeat atmosphere in the worldwide economy at present, we have no doubt that we must continue to offer the best services to our customers and assist them by ensuring that we handle their ships as quickly and productively as possible. Khorfakkan is already in the ideal location to act as a relay point for containers throughout the region - and in these difficult days the time and money lines can save by using the terminal will be an even more valuable contribution."

"We are delighted that CMA-CGM have further enhanced their portfolio of services hubbing on KCT by adding the Mediterranean/ Far East (Mex) link. This will certainly not only benefit them, but also add yet more opportunities for the traders of the UAE to use Khorfakkan," he added.

KCT is one of the world's leading container transhipment ports, and is strategically located outside the sensitive Straits of Hormuz, close to the main east-west shipping routes. Only three hours from the UAE's main centres of population, Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, KCT is an ideal transhipment hub port with numerous feeder ship connections to Gulf Ports, Iran, India, Pakistan and East Africa.