Hapag-Lloyd announced that it is participating in a new joint venture (JV) to develop and operate a new container terminal in Damietta, Egypt.

The JV "Damietta Alliance Container Terminal S.A.E." consists of three core shareholders which are Hapag-Lloyd Damietta GmbH (39%), Eurogate Damietta GmbH (29.5%), and Contship Damietta Srl (29.5%).

Two other partners, Middle East Logistics & Consultants Group and Ship & C.R.E.W. Egypt S.A.E., will each hold 1%.

The new joint venture was founded to develop and operate the new "Terminal 2" in the port. 

Operations to commence by 2024

 
Hapag-Lloyd said in a statement that the new Terminal 2 at the port of Damietta is expected to start operations by 2024.

It will have a final total operational capacity of 3.3 mio TEU and serve as Hapag-Lloyd's dedicated strategic transshipment hub in the East Mediterranean.

"With the new terminal Hapag-Lloyd will significantly improve its transshipment operation in the East Mediterranean market as well as access to the local Egyptian trade," said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.
 
Thomas H. Eckelmann, chairman of the EUROGATE Group Management Board, for his part, said "with the Terminal 2 being operational in 2024, Hapag-Lloyd and its partners will be able to use a state-of-the-art terminal with sufficient capacity, high productivity, and a dense feeder network."

Cecilia Eckelmann-Battistello, chairman of the board of Contship Italia, extended gratitude to the Egyptian government for its support of the project.

"The concession to operate the facility is granted to the Joint Venture for 30 years. This gives us and our respective customers a long-term perspective in the port of Damietta," Eckelmann-Battistello said.

Egypt as global logistics hub

The Egyptian government noted that the project will help position Egypt as a global logistics hub.

"This is a very encouraging, well-planned partnership of international and Egyptian private sector in order to position Egypt as a global hub for logistics and trade," said Lieutenant-General Eng. Kamel Al-Wazir, the Egyptian Minister of Transport.

"In this first phase, we will establish the port of Damietta as an integrated logistics hub for containers, which will then be followed by the establishment of logistic corridors reaching different manufacturing areas in Egypt by railway network," he added.

The final signing of the concession agreement took place on May 10 in Cairo, Egypt.