Gulftainer grows terminal volumes 4% in 2015

The privately owned port terminal operator did not release specific statistics underlying throughput growth across its network.    United Arab Emirates-based Gulftainer Company grew volumes across its terminal network by 4 percent in 2015, according to a statement from the company.
   The privately owned port terminal operator did not release specific statistics underlying throughput growth. Gulftainer said UAE volumes rose 9 percent from the previous year and the company’s Umm Qasr terminal in Iraq surpassed 1 million TEUs for the first time in 2015, five years after it began operations in 2010.
   Gulftainer manages the Khorfakkan Container Terminal, Sharjah Container Terminal and the Sharjah Inland Container Depot at Port Khalid in the UAE, Umm Qasr in Iraq, as well as terminals at Jeddah and Jubail in Saudi Arabia, Recife in Brazil, and Port Canaveral in the United States.
   The company’s U.S. subsidiary, Gulftainer USA, in January secured the first customer for Port Canaveral’s new container terminal after a six-month wait. Streamlines, N.V., part of the Dutch Seatrade Group, now calls the Central Florida port as part of its Blue Stream weekly container service that connects Northern Europe, the French West Indies and Central America.
   “The container industry worldwide is witnessing challenges in growth volumes due to a slowdown in the Chinese and European markets,” Gulftainer CEO Flemming Dalgaard said of the results. “However, Gulftainer’s success in bucking this trend with positive and robust performances across our terminals underlines our ability to adapt to market volatilities and economic fluctuations.
   “Gulftainer is currently on a growth path to expand organically as well as through leveraging new contracts from 2015. Our outlook for 2016 remains cautiously optimistic,” he added. “We will continue to invest in infrastructure to meet the requirements of our customers serving newer, larger ships and step up our capacity to handle higher volumes per call.”
    The company has said it plans to triple its throughput volumes over the next decade.