UAE Cargo Handler Tests Florida Waters

Gulftainer, a subsidiary of UAE-based conglomerate Crescent Enterprises, said the opening comes one year after Canaveral Port Authority signed a 35-year agreement with GT USA, the US arm of Gulftainer, to operate and further develop the container and multipurpose cargo terminal.

The opening comes one year after Canaveral Port Authority signed a 35-year agreement with GT USA, the US arm of UAE-based global ports and logistics company Gulftainer, to operate and further develop the container and multipurpose cargo terminal.

GT USA, which has its headquarters at the Canaveral Port Authority offices, expects $100 million investment in infrastructure and equipment to contribute more than $630 million to the local economy, creating 2,000 direct and indirect jobs when fully developed.

“The UAE and the US have fostered great partnerships in trade, culture, and education. Today represents one example of our nations’ great partnership,” Canaveral Port Authority Commission Chairman Jerry Allender said at the ceremony.

“Bilateral trade between the UAE and US has grown almost 80 per cent since 2005. In fact, last year the US benefitted from a $19 billion trade surplus with the UAE, and was the largest market for US goods and services in the region,” said Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the UAE to the US.

The unveiling of new terminal and first container movements included the maiden call of the ‘CMA CGM Jamaica’, a 264-metre container vessel with a capacity of 4,298 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) that berthed at the port, as the deepest vessel to ever call at Canaveral in its 60 year history, before resuming her voyage across the Atlantic and to Europe. 

A long-time business partner of Gulftainer, CMA CGM is one of the world’s leading shipping companies and is associated with Gulftainer at several locations around the world. Earlier this month, Gulftainer welcomed CMA CGM’s largest container vessel at its Khorfakkan Container Terminal in Sharjah, the ‘CMA CGM Kerguelen,’ with a total capacity of 17,722 TEUs.

Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises and Chairman of Gulftainer’s Executive Board, said container shipping is a $6 trillion industry that touches 95 per cent of the world’s manufactured goods.

The Canaveral Cargo Terminal, which begins operations with a cargo capacity of 200,000 TEUs, plans to triple capacity to 750,000 TEUs.

Gulftainer operates and manages ports and logistics businesses in several countries, including the UAE, Iraq, Pakistan, Brazil, Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the US. In the UAE, it operates Sharjah Container Terminal, Khorfakkan Container Terminal and Hamriya Container Terminal.