Gulftainer company has marked another significant milestone with the Sharjah Container Terminal, SCT, surpassing 400,000 TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) in annual throughput during 2014. SCT has again recorded double-digit growth compared to last year's volumes. The achievement was reached with an impressive safety record under challenging conditions including space constraints.
Iain Rawlinson, Group Commercial Director of Gulftainer, said, "The professional approach of Gulftainer's management, along with consistently high productivity levels, was a driving force behind the terminal's success. SCT has always marketed itself as 'The Flexible Alternative' and the individual attention we extend to our customers offers us an advantage over competitors." The 400,000th unit was discharged from Mag Container Lines' vessel, 'Mag Success', one of the terminal's regular callers, which considers Sharjah as her base port. Speaking on behalf of Mag Line's CEO, BDM Jamal Saleh, congratulated the terminal for its achievement.
He said, "The announcement today reflects how Gulftainer and MCL have grown together over the years and, in partnership, managed to reach this target. The continuous support, flexibility and excellent operational performance MCL receives from Gulftainer, both operationally and logistically, has contributed greatly to this achievement." SCT, which is managed and operated by Gulftainer on behalf of the Sharjah Port Authority, has the honour of being the site of the first container terminal in the Gulf, commencing its operations in 1976. SCT is located in the heart of Sharjah and is an ideal gateway for import and export cargo with direct links throughout the Gulf, Asia, Europe, Americas and Africa.
The strong performance of the Sharjah economy has supported the growth of many of SCT's customers, enabling them to increase their throughput and contribute to a record year for the terminal.
SCT's figures have been further boosted with the arrival of new services throughout the year, including UASC's Gulf India Service (GIS1), which now connects Sharjah with Sohar in Oman, Mundra in India and Karachi in Pakistan, which boosted the national carrier's volumes through SCT in November and December.