Tugs will be in greater demand in Egypt after an agreement was signed for a new import terminal
Bolloré Ports, part of Bolloré Transport & Logistics, and a group of Japanese corporations signed a concession agreement with the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone to build, equip and manage a roro terminal at Port Said in Egypt.
Vehicle manufacturer Toyota Tsusho Corp and logistics group Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha will work in collaboration with Bolloré Ports to open the automotive terminal in 2021.
The consortium said it is committed to investing US$150M over the period to acquire the equipment and develop the infrastructure.
Ultimately, the terminal will become a regional hub for automotive sector delivery as it will be dedicated to the import, export and reshipment of cars to markets and ports in neighbouring countries.
It will be equipped with a 600-m dock and a 21-hectare storage park for receiving and delivering vehicles.
Toyota expects the terminal to handle around 800,000 vehicles per year. Bolloré Ports said it intends to help Port Said to become the benchmark port in the eastern Mediterranean.
Bolloré Ports operates terminals in 21 concessions worldwide, of which 16 are in Africa. The group said it expects to expand and invest further in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.
Targeted expansion areas include securing port concessions, traditional cargo handling and shipping agency services, according to Bolloré.
Elsewhere in Egypt, DP World is investing US$520M in new port facilities in Sokhna. It already operates Basin 1 container terminal in the port with operational capacity of 945,000 TEU.
DP World’s investment in Basin 2 includes a 1.3-km quay for container ships. Its investment in Basin 3 creates a 400-m2 liquid bulk station for Egypt’s energy imports.
Egypt has become a hub for liquid, bulk and container trade as more of the shipping industry uses its terminals in addition to transiting the Suez Canal.
Maersk Group’s APM Terminals operates the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) in Port Said, which is a hub for trade between south east Asia and the Mediterranean. Around 95% of SCCT’s traffic is currently made up of transhipment volumes.
Tug operators in Egypt are increasing their tug fleets through newbuilding purchases in anticipation of growing trade in the strategically positioned nation.
As an example, Svitzer has two newbuild tugs built for operations in Port Said – two azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugs have up to 70 tonnes of bollard pull for handling large container ships.
The first of these tugs commenced operations in November 2019 and the other in January 2020.
Egyptian government agencies also have four new harbour tug newbuildings on order in Egypt for ship handling in the nation.
Look out for Riviera Maritime Media’s Smart Tug Operations Conference series in 2020 with the first of these scheduled for Dubai, UAE.
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