Amidst the current phase of fast-paced changes impacting containerised trade dynamics, the UAE-based Gulftainer, says it is keen to be relevant, adaptable and ahead of the curve in container management. 

Towards this, the world’s largest privately-owned, independent port operator plans to raise productivity levels across its global portfolio by investing in infrastructure improvements that will enable the facilities to adapt to the new trends in the shipping industry.

The company’s efforts have already yielded marked improvements in the productivity performance levels in recent years. At its Northern Container Terminal (NCT) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for instance, the average crane productivity rate of the terminal currently stands at 35 moves per hour.

Additionally, the company has developed the terminal’s infrastructure, taking steps to widen the length of the berth, expand the size and efficiency of the stacking area, improve accessibility to high quality services, and increase value-addition by offering flexibility, reliability and consistency in handling its customer’s needs – all of which have raised NCT’s competitive edge in the industry. 

“At NCT, we look forward to enhancing our services, for our existing clients, and further expanding our customer base, with more shipping lines calling at the terminal,” says Flemming Dalgaard, CEO Gulftainer. 

According to Dalgaard, NCT also leads the effort in ‘Terminal Partnering’ in the port with its line customers and has a full time production manager focused on working in conjunction with Lines to analyse the performance of each ship call and its related processes to achieve continuous improvement in performance. 

“With one particular customer, this continuous process evaluation, from arrival to departure, has managed to reduce port times on their ships by an average of over five hours per ship,” he adds.

NEW RECORD

The Northern Container Terminal, managed by Gulftainer’s subsidiary in Saudi Arabia, Gulf Stevedoring (GSCCO), is in fact the busiest container terminal in the port of Jeddah. 
 

Dalgaard: `we are looking at various new opportunities which are linked to our discussions with the port authorities on extending our current concession agreements’

In 2015, NCT handled 1.78 million twenty-foot equivalent units (m TEU), a minor fall from the previous year, which Dalgaard reasons, was due to the re-organisation of a number of carrier loops during the year. However, in December of 2015, NCT handled over 182, 000 TEUs, setting a new record for the volume handled by any terminal in a single month in the port of Jeddah.

As the largest container terminal at the Jeddah Islamic Port, NCT throughput volume for 2015 was made up of imports at 31 per cent; exports at 29 per cent, and transshipment cargo that accounted for 40 per cent of total volume. 

H1 PERFORMANCE

During the first half of 2016, NCT handled 997,723 TEUs, which is an 18.5 per cent hike from the values of first half of 2015. Of this, imports accounted for 28 per cent; exports 26 per cent and transhipments 46 per cent. Additionally, NCT’s market share in Jeddah increased to 47 per cent, up from 44 per cent for 2015. Import in NCT mainly constitutes building and construction materials and foodstuff.

The company is also the operator of the Jubail Container Terminal (JCT) on the east coast of the kingdom, making Gulftainer, and its subsidiary GSCCO, the only company to operate container terminals on both coasts of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the company has the contract for providing marine services and bulk handling of urea in the adjacent Jubail Industrial Port. 

JCT predominantly serves the petrochemical export market of the adjacent Jubail Industrial Zone. This terminal regularly handles general cargoes, some bulk as well as project and Out of Gauge cargoes.

In 2015, JCT handled 421,342 TEUs and for the first half of 2016 is 24 per cent ahead of the same period in 2015.  At the same time, JCT also handled 328,459 tonnes of break-bulk cargo.

At the Jubail Industrial port, GSCCO handled 3.64 m tonnes of bulk Urea exports with volumes in the first half of 2016, 5 per cent ahead of the same period in 2015.

SHIPPING LINES

Currently, there are 12 major carriers calling at the NCT, with Pacific International Lines (PIL), Evergreen Line, China Ocean Shipping Group (COSCO), CMA CGM, United Arab Shipping Company (UASCO) and Seacon Shipping Group as the most prominent common feeders. 
 

NCT is equipped with advanced equipment

NCT is an integral part of a number of important service routes, including RS1, FRX, RSS and GEM. The FEM service for Evergreen and the Phoenix service by CMA CGM, Evergreen and UASCO were introduced in 2015. 

The main carriers in JCT include Maersk, UASC, CMA-CGM, MSC and Coscon.

As the largest container terminal in Jeddah Islamic Port, NCT has handled vessels of up to 14,000 TEUs, with a maximum draft of 15.2m. The terminal is fully equipped to handle large volumes of container traffic with a container handling capacity of 3.0 million TEUs. NCT, spread across an area of around 1.1 million sq m, has seven operating berths extending over a quay length of 1,700 m with maximum operating alongside draft of 15.2m. It is ideally placed to serve the local market of Saudi Arabia and is also the busiest transhipment hub of any terminal in the Red Sea with a market share of 62 per cent of the transhipments in Jeddah.

LOOKING AHEAD

Despite a challenging business environment, Gulftainer is steering ahead with a goal to expand and grab new opportunities which will help it to grow its business across its terminals.

Talking about its modernisation and capacity expansion projects, Dalgaard says: “We are looking at various new opportunities which are linked to our discussions with the port authorities on extending our current concession agreement. 

“Our discussion with the port authorities include a plan to further develop the terminal to increase capacity and equipment to be able to accommodate large vessels with over 18,000 TEU-capacity with 17m draft.”  

Additionally, the terminal is currently equipped with the most modern IT systems and also follows several innovative operational techniques which include the twin lift, tandem lift and dual cycle operations, which are aimed to improve the average crane, berth and yard productivity levels.

Besides Saudi Arabia, Gulftainer operates and manages ports and logistics businesses in several countries including the UAE, Iraq, Pakistan, Brazil, Lebanon, Turkey and the US.

Gulftainer’s operations in the UAE currently include the Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) and the Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) at Port Khalid and the Sharjah Inland Container Depot (SICD).