[140412.EN.SEA] Sharjah's Khorfakkan Terminal Docks Its Biggest Ship, a 14,074-TEUer

THE biggest vessel ever to dock at Sharjah's Gulftainer's Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT), the 14, 074-TEU CSCL Uranus, has arrived on its maiden voyage from the Far East, reported WAM, Emirates New Agency.

Fresh out of a Korean shipyard on the March 9, it is the largest ship to arrive at Khorfakkan Container Terminal and is the China Shipping Container Lines' (CSCL) largest ship.

"For KCT, this marks another success in our ever-expanding client range," said Gulftainer managing director Peter Richards. "The selection of CSCL Uranus to dock in KCT on its maiden call further proves KCT's abilities as one of the world's fastest-moving ports."

Gulftainer's KCT was named Shipping Port of the Year in 2011 at the Annual Supply Chain and Transport Awards (SCATA 2011) in Dubai and is recognised as one of the most efficient ports in the world, said the report.

KCT has 1,900 metres of quay, a 16-metres alongside, 20 ship-to-shore gantry cranes, and is able to dock the biggest containerships.

It is located on Sharjah's Indian Ocean coast, conveniently outside the tense Strait of Hormuz and near main east-west shipping routes with its easy access to the UAE's Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

The port was recently expanded, increasing the total number of gantry cranes to 20 and the overall storage space to 450,000 square metres, said the report.

Gulftainer Company Limited has been operating since 1976 in the UAE and operates three main ports in the Emirates: Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) and Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) on behalf of the Sharjah Port Authority, and terminal operations on behalf international plastics solutions company, Borouge, in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi.

Source : STA, 05.04.12.