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The new Bahrain Gateway terminal, operated by APM Terminals, officially opened for business today with the arrival of the 2,468 TEUs APL Dalian deployed on APL's Sub-continent Red Sea Service known as the SRX.The arrival is expected to be shortly followed by a Maersk regional feeder service call.
Bahrain Gateway, situated at Khalifa Bin Salman Port will take much of the traffic now handled at the old port of Mina Salman which will cease commercial operations in May 2009.
The new terminal will have at least eight regular weekly calls from start up, is confident this year to achieve a 3-4% volume growth on the 270,000 TEUs handled at Mina Salmon in 2008, and expects capacity to rise to some 2.5m TEUs in the short term.
Among the services expected to call at the new terminal, will be a whole network of regional/ feeder loops operated by lines that apart from APL, also include, Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Co, UASC and Evergreen.
It's also expected to come through this year from other mainhaul lines' calls, particularly those involved in the Asia/Middle East trade. APM Terminals has a 25 year concession to run the 1,800m quay front terminal and has already invested in four new post-panamax gantry cranes with twin lift facilities, and a dozen RTGs.
Source: PR News/ Copy 6003/ 15 April 2009
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The Bahrain Gateway cost US$340 million and opens for business on 1st April. Sea Freight Middle East was invited to take a look at the ambitious terminal, which experts have predicted will become a major transhipment hub in the Northern Gulf.
If you read any list detailing the top 10 most stressful events to happen in your life, moving house is usually only beaten to the top spot by divorce and family bereavement. With this in mind, please spare a thought for how the staff at Mina Salman, the APM Terminals operated port in Bahrain must be feeling as they prepare to move into their brand new port facility, the US$340 million Bahrain Gateway at Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) on 1st April.
Surprisingly none of the staff from APM Terminals in Bahrain Sea Freight Middle East spoke to were tearing their hair out with frustration — most of them actually seemed excited about the move.
However, when you look at it logically and compare the old port to the new, their excitement becomes perfectly understandable. Built in 1962, Mina Salman is showing its age. The difference in the standard of facilities between the port that opened 47 years ago and the Bahrain Gateway at KBSP — designed and built from scratch to exacting specifications on specially reclaimed land — are as obvious as they are staggering.
The managing director of APM Terminals in Bahrain is Steen Davidsen. Originally from Denmark, Davidsen has worked in the shipping industry for over 20 years and his past experience will be essential to ensure the smooth transition from Mina Salman to the Bahrain Gateway at KBSP. Davidsen is in no doubt that his team is ready. “The new facility is fundamentally different to Mina Salman,” he says. “Also, the team we have assembled here is first rate and all of us are determined to make the move a positive experience.”
The Bahrain Gateway was conceived by the Bahraini government in the 1990s and the plans were in place long before APM Terminals won the 25-year port operating concession in the country. After handing over the day-to-day port operations in 2006 the government then formed the General Organisation of Sea Ports (GOP), the governing body dealing with all maritime issues in Bahrain. The GOP has been working closely with APM Terminals since privatisation. “I never thought they [the GOP] would be so helpful,” Davidsen says. “They have made it very clear that we are working to the same agenda.”
Bart Noothoven Van Goor is the project implementation manager for the Bahrain Gateway at KBSP and has the unenviable task of making sure that the new port is in perfect working order for the opening date of 1st April. “I am the liaison between Royal Haskoning [the builders] and APM Terminals,” he says. “My background is operations so from this perspective I know what is required. We [APM Terminals] have invested $62 million on the new port which underlines the commitment we have here. If you look at the facilities that are now in place for both container and general cargo you can see exactly where the money has gone.”
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