Khorfakkan takes delivery of two more gantries

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 eighteen, 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 Sharjah Ruler, His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi's decision to expand KCT and the Sharjah Container Terminal to deal with more, bigger ships in the future is becoming more evident."

Richards added, "Khorfakkan is recognized as one of the world's leading container transhipment ports, and over the past year we have been dealing with more and larger ships than ever before. This increase in volumes and vessel size shows that the decision to go ahead with the expansion was the correct one."

"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. 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. This increased capacity, combined with the KCT's geographic location and its fast, efficient turnover, means that the terminal is in an ideal position to continue to help shipping lines save time and money. The addition of these new gantry cranes will help to improve KCT's already impressive performance even further in this respect," he said.

KCT is one of the world's leading container transhipment ports, and is strategically located on Sharjah's Indian Ocean east coast, 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, Asia and East Africa. In recent years, KCT has been increasingly recognised not only for its ideal location, but also for its efficiency and productivity.