UAE's Gulftainer deploys 8 gantries at Khorfakkan terminal

THE UAE's Gulftainer has announced its Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) has eight new gantries working on a single ship and bringing the port's total number of ship-to-shore cranes to 20.

The acquisition and delivery of four new 'Megamax' Liebherr container gantries at the end of last year are now working at the extended 440-metre berth, said a company statement.

Terminal manager Dag Froehmcke said it was great to have eight gantries over the ship at "this has been a busy time - the last 48 hours have seen the terminal handling nearly 20,000 TEU - so we certainly appreciate the new cranes and the extra quay space."

Gulftainer Group managing director Peter Richards said with the expansion of the quay and total number of gantries at 20 efficiency will be maintained, "KCT is now well known for its efficient, speedy performance, and is already regularly handling ships of over 11,000 TEU," he said.

KCT, operated for the Sharjah Ports Authority, is one of the world's leading container transhipment terminals, is strategically located on Sharjah's Indian Ocean east coast, outside the 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 connections to Gulf Ports, Iran, India, Pakistan and East Africa.

(Source: www.Schednet.com)