Gulftainer wins 50-year port concession in Delaware
DEAL REPRESENTS THE LARGEST OPERATION EVER RUN BY A UAE COMPANY IN THE US
Sharjah-based Gulftainer has secured a 50year concession to operate and develop the port of Wilmington in the state of Delaware in the United States, the firm said yesterday.
Gulftainer will invest $600 million (Dh2.2 billion) in the expansion to turn the port into one of the largest gateways on the US east coast including a new 1.2 million 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container terminal. The port deal represents the largest operation ever run by a UAE company in the US, as well as the largest investment ever by a private UAE company in the country.
The agreement was signed by Governor John Carney of Delaware with Badr Jafar, chairman of the executive board of Gulftainer, in the presence of Delaware Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock as well as Yousuf Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US, and other dignitaries.
“This landmark agreement builds on Gulftainer’s 43-year track record of delivering excellence and dependability in ports and logistics operations around the world, and we are confident that this public-private partnership will propel the Port of Wilmington towards becoming the principal gateway of the Eastern Seaboard,” Jafar said in a statement. ■ Plans for the Port also include development of allcargo terminal capabilities at the facility and the enhancement of productivity.
He added, “Since Gulftainer’s entry into the US through our operations in Port Canaveral in 2015, we have discovered major untapped potential in this sector and we will continue to look for attractive investment opportunities in the region.”
Gulftainer currently operates the Canaveral Cargo Terminal in Port Canaveral, Florida and provides services to the US Armed Forces as well as the US Space Industry.
The Delaware concession agreement completes a preliminary agreement between Gulftainer and the State of Delaware, as well as the completion of a formal review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), granting Gulftainer exclusive rights to manage the port.
Plans for the Port also include development of allcargo terminal capabilities at the facility and the enhancement of its overall productivity. Gulftainer will also establish a training facility at the development site specifically for the ports and logistics industries, with the facility expected to train and upskill up to 1,000 people per year.
In recent years total bilateral trade between the UAE and US has grown from approximately $5 billion in 2004 to over $24 billion in 2017. The US had a $15.7 billion trade surplus with the UAE, its third-largest trade surplus globally.
Value of US-UAE bilateral trade in 2017
People to be trained at the facility