Commercial operations commenced at Damietta Alliance Container Terminals (DACT) in Egypt on Saturday, February 14, with the arrival of the Hapag-Lloyd 13,117TEU vessel Essen Express.
"The new hub strengthens our position in the East Mediterranean and enhances our ability to provide customers with reliable, efficient and competitive services across key east-west and regional trade lanes," said Juan Pablo Richards, Senior Managing Director Region South Europe at Hapag-Lloyd.
DACT has been designed primarily for transshipment operations and is planned to have a total capacity of 3.3 million TEUs after the final construction phase.
The expected cargo mix is approximately 80 per cent transshipment and 20 per cent import and export, serving both the Egyptian market, including Damietta and Greater Cairo, and regional markets such as the Levant and the Black Sea.
The DACT facility covers an area of approximately 93 hectares and features a quay length of 1,670 metres with a water depth of 18 metres.
The terminal is equipped with 12 fully electric ship-to-shore cranes with a 25-row outreach and 40 hybrid rubber-tyred gantry cranes.
Additional equipment includes spreaders, lashing cages, out-of-gauge frames and rail infrastructure with six train lanes, of which two are operational at launch.
Damietta Alliance Container Terminals SAE is a joint venture established to develop and operate DACT. Shareholders are Hapag-Lloyd Damietta (39 per cent) (represented by Hanseatic Global Terminals), Eurogate (29.956 per cent) and Contship Italia (29.956 per cent), together with Ship and CREW Egypt (one per cent) and the Middle East Logistics and Consultants Group (0.07 per cent).
