Suez Canal Container Terminal formalizes $500 mln expansion deal with SCZONE

The Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT), majority owned and operated by Maersk’s APM Terminals, has signed a concession agreement with the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) for the expansion of the terminal.

The $500 million agreement purports “financing, design, construction, management, and operation” of the extension of SCCT, as the second terminal at Port Said East Port, to be located between SCZONE and the existing SCCT area.

The container terminal will be expanded with a new additional 955-metre berth and an additional container yard of 510 thousand sq. metres, adding to the current berth length of 2,400 meters and a handling yard of 1.2 million square meters.

The agreement was signed as part of the COP27 event in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt), by Waleid Gamal El-Dein, Chairman of the General Authority for SCZONE and Steven Yoogalingam, CEO and Managing Director of Suez Canal Container Terminal on 15 November.

The terminal is currently operating with a berth length of 2,400m and a handling yard of 1.2 million sq. m and is the main operator in Port Said East Port, with annual throughput of 4 million TEUs.

The deal was announced in August this year.

”This project comes within the framework of SCZONE’s consistent support of Egypt’s economic strategy, which aims to develop the Egyptian ports to maximize their role in the global maritime trade and to exploit the various investments to create job opportunities. 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 $500 million, providing 1,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, especially for the residents of Port Said and North Sinai cities,” El-Dein said.

“The targeted additional volume after the expansion will reach 2 million TEUs. This important project was possible thanks to the long-lasting partnership with our Egyptian partners, dating back to 2004 and is a result of A.P. Moller – Maersk’s great confidence and belief in the Egyptian economy”, shared Yoogalingam.

The new, technologically advanced terminal will operate on clean and renewable energy, based on electric equipment, in line with Maersk’s and APM Terminals’ ambition to become fully carbon neutral by 2040.

The project also entails the delivery of the latest generation port equipment, including 12 ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, 30 rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) and 90 trucks, as well as supporting equipment and advanced IT systems. Once operational in 2025, the terminal will create over 1000 new direct jobs in Port Said. With the expansion project, the terminal’s operating capacity will increase by over 40%.

Egypt has been on a massive partnership signing string during COP27, availing of its role as a host. One of those includes a key strategic partnership with the EU on renewable hydrogen.