Logistics Expansion work begins at Egyptian Red Sea port By Pramod Kumar July 15, 2024, 7:56 AM Edecs Company executives at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new container terminal at Egypt's Ain Sokhna port Construction has commenced on expanding a container terminal at Egypt’s Ain Sokhna Port on the Red Sea. Red Sea Containers Terminals, jointly owned by Hong Kong’s Hutchison Ports, France’s CMA Terminals and China’s Cosco Shipping Ports, has appointed Cairo-headquartered Edecs as the main contractor to work on constructing the infrastructure, yards and buildings. The value of the deal was not given. NewsletterGet the Best of AGBI delivered straight to your inbox every week The expansion will cover an area of 720,000 sq m, increasing the terminal capacity to 1.61 million twenty-foot equivalent units (teu) annually. The project is slated to be operational within 18 months. “This project represents a critical milestone in our efforts to expand Ain Sokhna Port and enhance its status and position as the largest port on the Red Sea in terms of quay walls exceeding 20 km,” said Hussein El Dessouky, chairman of Edecs. The Egyptian contractor has worked on several maritime projects, including Tahya Misr Terminal in Alexandria Port, Damietta Port, Safaga Port, Ras Al-Khair Port and Jeddah Islamic Port in Saudi Arabia. Red Sea crisis could drop Suez Canal revenue by 60% Egypt gets $455m to build new container port AD Ports to invest $200m to develop Safaga Port in Egypt The announcement comes despite Danish shipping major Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc this month saying that disruption in the Red Sea is expected to stretch into the third quarter of 2024, making the situation challenging for carriers and businesses. “For the time being, Maersk ships are continuing to divert around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa,” he said, adding that the continuing attacks on ships in the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden have created challenges for logistics and supply chains. In May, Maersk said that the Red Sea disruption is anticipated to lead to a 15 to 20 percent industry-wide capacity loss on the Asia to North Europe and Mediterranean routes in the second quarter of 2024.
