Lloyd's List
Wednesday 13 February 2008
AQABA's renaissance as one of the Red Sea's leading container hub ports continues. Just a few years ago, the port was one of the most troubled in the region, with serious congestion problems and long delays to vessels.
However, the arrival of APM Terminals as terminal operator in 2004, and the signing of a 25-year concession deal with the Aqaba Development Corp in 2006, has led to a remarkable improvement in performance.
Last year, Aqaba Container Terminal achieved a further 2% increase in throughput, to around 414,000 teu.
This rate of growth was less than in the preceding two years but followed a downturn in activity in the first half of the year.
Amin Kawar, ACT's chief commercial officer, said: "We are proud of last year's achievements and it is worth noting that we witnessed a growth in the volume of exported cargo during 2007."
Two new shipping services started to call at ACT last year, linking Aqaba directly with markets in the Far East. ACT now has 22 shipping line customers, 10 of whom offer direct mainline calls into the Jordanian port. Many of these carriers left Aqaba during the period of congestion, but the improvement in performance has attracted them back.
Earlier this year, ACT achieved a performance record when Maersk Detroit berthed at the terminal and discharged and loaded 3,360 teu of containers in 30 working hours.
"This new record reflects the terminal's capacity to undertake a huge number of shipments and adds to its internationally reputable name," said Mr Kawar.
Over the past two years a significant amount of investment in the Aqaba Container Terminal has been made by APM Terminals, which has brought in new ship-to-shore gantry cranes and RTGs to replace older straddle carriers. The company has also implemented the Navis computerised terminal operations system and has a new documentation processing centre.
Furthermore, ACT has implemented a berth window system that guarantees that all vessels can turnaround in a specified timeframe.
