General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) and Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) have unveiled their plans to design and operate a second terminal at Port Said East Port.
The terminal will be installed between SCZONE and the existing SCCT area.
The targeted additional volume after the expansion will reach 2 million TEUs, according to Steven Yoogalingam, CEO and managing director of SCCT.
During the COP27 event, which took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, Waleid Gamal El-Dein, chairman of SCZONE and Steven Yoogalingam signed a concession agreement on 15 November.
As part of a US$500 million investment deal, the project aims to expand the existing SCCT facility, a joint venture container terminal with APM Terminals as the majority shareholder, at Port Said East Port, by adding a new 955m berth and a new 510,000m² container handling yard.
The terminal is currently operating with a berth length of 2,400m and a handling yard of 1.2 million m² and is the busiest facility in Port Said East Port, with annual throughput of 4 million TEUs.
"This project reinforces SCZONE’s consistent support of Egypt’s economic strategy, which aims to develop Egyptian ports to maximize their role in the global maritime trade and to exploit various investments to create job opportunities," commented Waleid Gamal El-Dein, chairman of SCZONE.
"This is exactly what the project offers, as it aims to expand the existing container terminal in Port Said East Port, with cumulative investments estimated at US$500 million, providing 1,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, especially for the residents of Port Said and North Sinai cities," he added.
The new, technologically advanced terminal will operate on clean and renewable energy, based on electric equipment. The latest generation port equipment will be used in the project, including 12 ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, 30 rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) and 90 trucks, as well as supporting equipment and advanced Information Technology (IT) systems.
Once operational in 2025, the terminal will create over 1,000 new direct jobs in Port Said, in addition to indirect jobs and business opportunities created within the whole port ecosystem, according to a statement.
The expansion project aims to increase the terminal’s operating capacity by over 40% to serve the future network requirements of its customers.
