35 Port Said Throughput: 3,257,984teu (+14.7%)

Throughput at Port Said East's Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) increased by around 600,000teu to 2.4m teu in 2008, offsetting declining volumes at Port Said West where throughput fell 180,000teu to 860,000teu.

SCCT was one of the few Mediterranean box hubs to increase throughput in the first quarter of 2009, seeing growth of 14%.

Although the terminal predicts volumes of 2.6m teu for 2009, Jens Floe, SCCT MD, tells Cargo Sysems he is not complacent. "Key challenges lie in delivering a cost efficient product and still meeting the customers' demands; this is a very difficult balance to strike. SCCT is striving to reduce administrative costs as well as operational costs. Opportunities for us lie in the fact that the market and the network set up are changing and demand for a unique product is rising."

SCCT is pressing ahead with phase two of its expansion, which will double capacity to 5.1m teu. It will be open in mid-2010, with the last berth entering service by 2012.

Meanwhile, at Port Said West, operator Port Said Container & Cargo Handling Company is introducing a range of measures to stem its declining throughput.

The existing container quay will be developed to receive larger vessels up to sixth generation size. Four new weekly windows will be added for vessel calls on the main quay, as well as two that could be used as a buffer for delayed ships. Free storage of import containers will be extended and they will be exempted from stacking and loading tariffs, while the power supply tariff for export reefers is to be cut by 50%.