Gulftainer expands into US with Florida terminal

Sharjah's Gulftainer has secured a 35-year concession to manage Port Canaveral's container and cargo terminal in Florida, marking the UAE ports operator's first expansion into the US.
Gulftainer, part of the Crescent Enterprises group, will invest $100 million in "infrastructure, equipment and locally-sourced human capital" towards a new terminal expected to open by the fourth quarter.
The acquisition is part of larger plans at the company to operate 35 shipping terminals by 2020 to exploit growing world trade. If successful, it would boost the amount of cargo Gulftainer handles to 18 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), from six million currently.
Gulftainer is targeting "goods entering and leaving the southern Atlantic coastline of America", the company said. Gulftainer, which is privately owned and does not release revenue figures, said growth has averaged over 12 per cent compared with global market growth of 8.6 per cent in the same period.   
Port Canaveral is one of the busiest globally, handling almost four million tonnes worth of cargo each year. The new container and cargo terminal is expected to contribute more than US$630m to Florida's economy.
Gulftainer competes with larger rivals such as DP World, the world's third biggest ports operator, which was blocked from ownership of US ports as part of its £4 billion (Dh24.99bn) takeover of the British maritime group P&O in 2006.
US politicians had raised fears about the security implications of a Gulf state-owned company acquiring American ports.
"Today marks a new chapter; one of Gulftainer's future in the USA," Badr Jafar, Gulftainer's vice chairman said by telephone from Florida yesterday. "Port Canaveral is Gulftainer's first venture into the US and we look forward to working with the Port Authority in developing Port Canaveral into the world-leading port it has the potential to be."
Gulftainer has four operations in the UAE, including the only container terminal on the UAE's eastern coast, at Khor Fakkan.
It also has businesses in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, where it recently announced deals to manage container terminals at Jeddah and Jubail.
Gulftainer's terminal at Khorfakkan in 2012 was the fastest growing trans-shipment hub in the world, recording 28 per cent growth.
Gulftainer's strategy is part of a global dash for growth by UAE port operators. Dubai's Jebel Ali, the biggest port between Shanghai and Rotterdam, is owned by Dubai's DP World, which aims to handle 100 million TEUs by 2020.
Khalifa Port, the marine terminal of the Kizad industrial zone in Abu Dhabi, will handle 15 million TEUs at full capacity.
World trade is expected to grow 4.7 per cent in 2014 and at a slightly faster rate of 5.3 per cent in 2015, according to forecasts by the World Trade Organization published in April.
"Recent business surveys and industrial production data point to a firming up of the recovery in the United States and Europe early this year," the report said.
"Output growth in Japan should be slightly lower this year as planned fiscal consolidation is implemented.
"Finally, despite having hit a soft patch recently, developing economies (including China) should continue to outpace developed economies in terms of GDP and trade growth in the coming year, but some could encounter setbacks, particularly those most exposed to the recalibration of monetary policy in developed countries," the report said.
A plan to create a giant global shipping alliance between the world's three biggest container operators - akin to codesharing deals between airlines - was vetoed by China last week.
An alliance that included Denmark's AP Møller-Maersk, France's Mediterranean Shipping Company and the Swiss-based CMA CGM, would threaten the global shipping industry, said China's Commerce Ministry. The alliance was first suggested in June last year, and had been approved by anti-trust regulators in Europe and the US.
halsayegh@thenational.ae
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