Holland Gulf Chamber of Commerce » economische groei

Saudi deal driving force for Gulftainer’s growth

jochemgeheniau — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 07:30:57 +0000

Gulftainer, the Sharjah-headquartered port management and logistics group, is set to witness volumes soar in 2013 as the group continues to expand its global footprint.
As the operator of the largest number of terminals in the Middle East, Gulftainer stands to benefit from the considerable growth in export cargoes from the region.
The rapidly developing petrochemical industries serve as a major factor in offsetting any reduced import volumes.
This announcement by Gulftainer is especially noteworthy, since recent industry trends appear to be moving in the opposite direction.
The Drewry Global Throughput Index, which is published with a two-month lag, is highlighting that the market as a whole has continued to stay almost at the 2012 levels, reflecting almost nil growth.
Furthermore, recent announcements by other international port management companies showing up to 6 percent decreases on the same period last year.
China has also made statements to the effect that they expect 2013 to be “even worse” than 2008 in terms of global shipping.
Gulftainer acquired a 51 percent stake in GSCCO in June 2013, allowing it to assume the full management of three Saudi terminals, located in Jeddah and Jubail.
The company recently bought the controlling stake in Gulf Stevedoring Contracting Company (GSCCO ) in Saudi Arabia and this new acquisition means that Gulftainer now has a Middle East network that allows access to the Arabian Peninsula from the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Gulf.
The geographical scope of Gulftainer’s terminals and their capabilities not only serves the largest container vessels in the world, but also caters for transshipping to East Mediterranean countries, East Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Upper Gulf destinations.
Commenting on the company’s recent GSCCO acquisition, Badr Jafar, CEO of Gulftainer’s parent company Crescent Enterprises and vice chairman of Gulftainer, said: “Today, Gulftainer manages more terminals in the Middle East than any other port operator does. Having achieved the reputation among shipping lines of being one of the fastest terminal operators in the world, Gulftainer is able to take its UAE-honed expertise to terminals in other high-growth markets across the World.”
Jeddah’s NCT recently carried out significant expansion, which will substantially improve the capability of Jeddah Islamic Port . The facility currently consists of 1,654 m of quay, 11 cranes, seven of which are super post panamax cranes, with an annual capacity of three million TEUs. Almost 75 percent of all container traffic to the Kingdom is currently handled through the Jeddah Islamic Port , and it is a major trade gateway for the Kingdom’s container traffic.
Located on the Arabian Gulf, Jubail is home to the development of the largest industrial zone in the world covering 8,000 hectares comprising petrochemical plants, fertilizer plants, steel works, and an industrial port as well as the world’s largest desalination plant.
Jubail Port is one of the largest industrial ports in the world and currently handles 52 million tons of cargo per annum, a figure which is expected to grow substantially in the short- to medium-term.
The port is equipped with a 1,282 m quay, five cranes and has a container handling capacity of 1 million TEU per annum.
It is expected that this figure will continue to increase quickly, particularly with the opening of major petrochemical developments in the Jubail Industrial Zone and the planned rail link to Riyadh. GSCCOcurrently operates 22 commercial berths at the port, including the open sea tanker terminal.
Speaking on the expected growth, Peter Richards, Gulftainer’s managing director, stated: “The benefit of being privately owned allows the Gulftainer Group to be very nimble and react to changing market conditions. Our throughput in 2013 will see an increase of over 30 percent as a result of strategic acquisitions and a very hands-on management team that keep close to our customers to understand and prepare for changes.”
Further afield, Gulftainer has invested in Brazil and Russia to ensure they are well placed to capitalize on the roaring pace of development in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies where annual growth is still reaming strong, compared to the mature economies of Europe and North America.
“We look forward to maintaining the Gulftainer track record established over the past 37 years of delivering growth year-on-year. Historically, organic growth was the Gulftainer engine; today we are adding growth through our carefully considered investments both regionally and more globally. This is an exciting time for Gulftainer and we look forward to increasing our footprint across regional and global markets in the near future,” Richards added.

Saudi Arabia’s economic growth in overdrive

jochemgeheniau — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 10:40:16 +0000

JEDDAH – As a significant volume of new prime office space starts to enter the Riyadh market, particularly at King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), and the overall occupancy rate starts to rise, rental rates in general have started to edge downwards and incentives have started to become more widespread, according to the latest Saudi Arabia MarketView by CBRE, the global real estate consultancy firm.

“Headline rents offered at KAFD are high in comparison to existing market norms, but terms are flexible and there is room for negotiation on incentives. In the existing prime office areas in the southern central areas, office rental rates are starting to come under downward pressure and new supply in these areas is forcing both lower headline rents and more generous incentive packages,” said Mike Williams, Head of Research & Consultancy, CBRE Middle East.

In contrast to both these areas a number of business park projects that have recently emerged in northern Riyadh such as Granada Business Park, ITCC and Riyadh Business Gate have proved extremely popular, notes the CBRE report.

“All three of these projects are either fully occupied or nearing full occupancy at strong rates and without significant support from incentive packages. These projects have successfully met market requirements by providing good access, parking and quality as well as being located in the northern parts of Riyadh that are attracting increasing interest,” added Williams.
The CBRE report said the supply of prime office space in Jeddah looks set to jump with the completion of The Headquarters Business Park in the second half of 2013, but growth in demand largely driven by government expenditure on infrastructure will likely moderate the threat of oversupply. Rental rates in Jeddah remained static in the first half of 2013 despite a slight drop in vacancy rates during the same period
“International firms engaged in implementing government infrastructure projects will likely absorb much of the new and existing space, and there is likely to be a relatively balanced environment where neither supply or demand move significantly out of line,” commented Williams.

Moreover, the report said overall levels of economic activity in Al-Khobar have historically been driven largely by Saudi Aramco, augmented by family firms and small branches of international or regional consultancies. Saudi Aramco has embarked on a transformation program to become the world’s leading integrated energy and chemical company by 2020.
In addition, the growth of the industrial city of Jubail has also driven the office market in Al-Khobar as engineering firms enter the market in order to serve the three main drivers for economic growth in Eastern Province which are Saudi Aramco, Jubail Industrial City and Saudi government infrastructure initiatives.

“As it relates to office space, supply, demand, quality and rental rates have all risen consistently since 2000 and there have been no reverses in any of these categories for over a decade. Rental rates in existing properties have remained virtually static since 2008, however, rental rates for local Class A space have risen, due largely to improvement in the quality of local Class A space entering the market,” added Williams.
“Rental rates for space that would be considered local Class A space now lie in quite a broad range from around SR800/m²/pa to SR1,300/m²/pa with the most recently completed buildings commanding the highest rents,” Williams noted.

Water and sanitation deals worth SR394 million signed

jochemgeheniau — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 07:18:24 +0000

Water and Electricity Minister Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al-Hossein has recently signed 22 contracts for the implementation of water and sanitation projects in different parts of the Kingdom at an overall cost of SR394 million.
Saudi Arabia falls under the category of countries with water scarcity problems and several water and sanitation projects are under progress across the country to counter the depleting water resources.
These projects are part of the holistic plan to achieve greater economic growth and keep apace with accelerating population growth in cities and provinces.
The contracts include sewer projects in Dawadmi district in Riyadh, at an estimated cost of SR109. 6 million and another contract for the establishment of a water tank in Hail, signed at a value of SR64.3 million.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, the ministry is also working on a project designated for the maintenance of water and sanitation in Qatif area in the Eastern Province as well as a similar project in Asir region worth SR46.5 million.
The other projects includes internal drinking water system for the city of Al Quoz in Makkah, an expansion project contract for Rafha water system with reservoirs in the northern border, a water surplus line sewage treatment plant in Asir Province, which is expected to cost around SR10 million as well as water and sanitation projects in Abha, Tabuk, Najran.
Moreover, the National Water Company (NWC) is also implementing the strategic water storage project in Jeddah with a power of 1 million cubic meters.
Loay Al-Musallam, CEO of NWC recently announced that the company is working to enhance the vision of leadership in achieving water security and provide better services to citizens.
Al-Musallam also pointed out that the project in Jeddah was implemented according to international standards and high-quality specifications.