Suez Canal Economic Zone partners with Abu Dhabi Ports in multi-million pound projects

Ahram Online , Wednesday 22 Mar 2023

Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) has approved several partnership projects with Abu Dhabi Ports Group, with investments worth hundreds of millions of pounds to be implemented within the zone.

SCZONE
Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat (L) and Chairman of the SCZONE Walid Gamal El-Din (R) participate in a meeting on Tuesday to announce approval of partnership projects with AD Ports Group within the zone. SCZONE

 

The new projects will be implemented in partnership with AD Ports Group and its subsidiaries by adding new investments into the sea ports belonging to the SCZONE in East Port Said, West Port Said, Al-Arish, and Al-Sokhna, the SCZONE announced in a statement on Wednesday.

AD Ports Group will be in charge of the construction and development of superstructure, management, operation, and handing over of a multi-purpose bulk terminal for petroleum services at East Port Said berths with a total length of 1.5 km.

The first phase of the project will be operational in the second quarter of 2024 with a length of 750 metres, the statement said.

Transcargo International, a subsidiary of AD Ports Group, will establish six silos for storing black cement in Al-Arish Port for exportation, with a storage capacity of 75,000 tons and a trading volume of up to 2 million tons upon completion by next year.

The silos project comes with an investment cost of EGP 830 million and will span over 6,000 square metres inside the port

Transcargo International will also establish three dry bulk silos for storing and handling black cement in Abbas berth in the West Port Said Port at a cost of EGP 400 million, the statement said.

The project will start operation at a capacity of 150,000 tons during the current year and will aim to boost capacity to 600,000 tons by the year 2024/2025 and to 1.2 million tons by 2026.

The announcement comes a few days after AD Ports Group and Egyptian Red Sea Ports Authority signed a 30-year concession agreement to develop and operate a multi-purpose terminal at Safaga Port, a strategic location on the Red Sea coast in eastern Egypt.

The terminal will be operational in the second quarter of 2025 with a capacity to handle five million tons of dry bulk and general cargo in addition to 1 million tons of liquid bulk, 450K TEUs of containerised cargo, and 50K CEUs of RORO, according to a statement by the group on Saturday.

AD Ports Group and the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone also signed agreements for the development of two cement terminals in Al-Arish Port and West Port Said Port, which requires a combined investment of EGP 1 billion, the statement said.

The agreements signed by the group and Egyptian bodies would “enable a major expansion of the Group’s activities into Egypt,” the company’s statement added.

Earlier in March, the SCZONE discussed with AD Ports Group prospects for cooperation in industrial zones, logistical areas, and ports in a meeting between Chairman of the SCZONE Walid Gamal El-Din, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates in Cairo Mariam Al-Kaabi, and head of the International Sector of the Abu Dhabi Ports Group Ahmed Al-Mutawa.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi also received in Cairo AD Ports Group CEO Mohamed Juma Al-Shamisi early in March.

 The meeting underlined the group’s keenness to foster cooperation with Egypt amid the Egyptian government’s efforts to develop infrastructure and boost economy.

 

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