Port Said, Egypt – Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, visited the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) to review the ongoing development and expansion plans of the five-year old facility. He was accompanied by a delegation of senior Egyptian Government Officials including Prime Minister, Dr. Ahmed Nazif and the Governor of Port Said, General Mostafa Abd El Latif. SCCT, with a throughput of 2.4 million TEUs in 2008, is Egypt’s largest container facility and has quickly become one of the busiest and most important terminals in the Mediterranean Region since opening in 2004.
, SCCT saw container volume surge by 34% in 2008 to 2.4 million TEUs. SCCT’s container traffic and transshipment growth has continued during 2009, even as the overall global container trade has declined. A new monthly record of 161,477 was established for container moves in August, exceeding the previous record, set in June, by over 11,000 moves. Overall growth for 2009 has been forecast at 13%.
<p>The current Phase II expansion plans for SCCT will increase annual throughput capacity to 5.4 million TEUs by 2012, creating the largest single terminal in the Mediterranean. Local container volume quadrupled in 2008, while SCCT handles approximately a 20% share of all Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea transshipment moves. SCCT currently ranks 5th among all Mediterranean ports in terms of container volume and 35th globally.
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Egypt’s population of 83 million is the second-largest on the African continent (after Nigeria) and the 16th-largest in the world. The success of the economic policies of the Mubarak Administration are reflected in the recent report released by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) which named Egypt as pursuing one of the most active reform efforts globally, placing 9th on the most recent ranking released last month- the fourth such distinction as a top reformer in the past seven years. The Mo Ibrahim Foundation ranks Egypt currently 11th among the 53 African nations in its overall index of Good Governance, and 7th in the category of Sustainable Economic Opportunity.
“We are very proud to host His Excellency, President Mubarak, and his delegation” stated SCCT Managing Director Jens Floe, adding “and we applaud the steps the Egyptian Government is taking to support and encourage further investment in Egypt”.
The Egyptian economy has been projected to grow by 4.5% this year, and to average 6.5% annual expansion between 2008 and 2013.
