German shipping titan Hapag-Lloyd is building a new transshipment terminal with an annual handling capacity of 3.3 million TEU in Damietta, Egypt.
The Terminal 2 will be established about 60 kilometres from the northern outlet of the Suez Canal, a strategic location which Hapag-Lloyd said will boost its transshipments business in Damietta and improve competitiveness in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The harbour basin will have a water depth of 18 metres, compared to the current 14 metres found at Terminal 1, which means that the new terminal will be able to handle ships of all sizes, including the 23,500+ TEU dual fuel ships the carrier just ordered.
The terminal is slated for completion by the second half 2024, with operations ramping up in 2025.
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“In Damietta, we will also have dedicated time slots for our feeder ships,” said Marwan El Sammak, Managing Director Area Egypt.
“When we have more services call at our new terminal in Damietta we expect to deliver to the market a much stronger value proposition and much better connectivity, this will ensure a higher customer satisfaction.”
The company anticipates the project to ensure a reduction in overall operating costs, which will ultimately lead to higher performance, improved productivity and more on-time handling.
The terminal will be equipped with 50 state-of-the-art rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs), half of which will be powered by electricity, as well as 16 ship-to-shore cranes (STSs).
“We put a lot of thought into what the most suitable solution could be, as we naturally also had in mind Hapag-Lloyd’s and our customers’ demands for the greatest possible degree of sustainability,” added Matthias Müller, Senior Director Business Administration Region South Europe, Genoa.
In May 2022, Hapag-Lloyd launched a joint venture Damietta Alliance Container Terminal S.A.E. to develop and operate the new Terminal 2.
The three main shareholders – Hapag-Lloyd Damietta GmbH, Eurogate Damietta GmbH and Contship Damietta Srl – hold a 39 per cent and 29.5 per cent stake respectively.
Middle East Logistics & Consultants Group and Ship & C.R.E.W. Egypt S.A.E. each hold a 1 per cent stake.
Last year, shareholders at SM SAAM S.A. (SAAM) gave the greenlight to a billion-dollar takeover from Hapag-Lloyd.
SAAM approved the agreement to sell 100 per cent of the shares of its subsidiaries SAAM Ports and SAAM Logistics.
