Within the framework of the directives of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, to comprehensively develop all Egyptian seaports in order to set Egypt off as a global center for trade and logistics.
The Minister of Transport is following up on the progress of the execution of the multi-purpose terminal in Safaga Port within the plan to establish “Safaga Grand Port”.
The Minister: The terminal is one of the major national projects and is considered the main gateway to the development of the Upper Egypt region. It will serve all mining activities related to the Golden Triangle and export and import activities. It will provide direct and indirect job opportunities for young people and will contribute to increasing the national income.
L.G Eng. Kamel Al-Wazir – Minister of Transport continued his inspective tours following up on the projects implemented by the Ministry in various transport sectors. The Minister, accompanied by M.G Amr Hanafi, Governor of the Red Sea, followed up on the construction works of the multi-purpose terminal at the Safaga Sea Port, the implementation rate of which reached 77% and is being executed by a coalition of Egyptian national and foreign companies within the framework of effecting the directives of His Excellency the President to maximize cooperation with local and international private sector companies in the Ministry of Transport projects.
The Minister inspected the construction works of the terminal’s berths, which are 1,100 linear meters long, and the dredging works of the shipping lane that is being carried out to reach the draft of 17 meters, allowing these lanes to receive giant container vessels. The terminal has a hinterland with a total area of up to 810,000 m2, allowing for handling general cargo, containers, future expansions, and the establishment of industrial and logistical areas to serve the port.
The Minister instructed that all works be carried out in accordance with optimum world-class standards adhering to the specified time schedule, especially in view of the substantial significance of the Project, which is considered one of the fundamental national projects due to its strategic location on the Red Sea on an area of 81 hectares.
It is planned that the terminal will accommodate 500,000 – 3,000,000 containers per year, in addition to receiving general cargoes estimated at approximately 7,000,000 tons. The terminal also contributes to container handling and all types of general cargo, dry and liquid bulk cargoes. Moreover, the terminal is considered the main gateway to the development of Upper Egypt Region and will also contribute to serving all mining activities related to the Golden Triangle, serving export and import activities and contributing to making the most of development projects in the Northern and Central Region of South Upper Egypt, linking it to the Port, and attracting investments in the fields of industry, logistical and warehousing services, installation and assembly industries, and the transport of containers and cargoes from the south of the valley to the Port of Safaga, as well as contributing to boosting the transport of cargoes using railways, considering that the port of Safaga will be connected to the third line of the electric train. This will assist in relieving the pressure on roads, especially in the governorates of Upper Egypt, Qena, Assiut, Aswan, and Luxor, in addition to providing direct and indirect job opportunities for young people. It will also play a part in increasing the national income.
In his meeting with the project workers, the Minister thanked the specialized Egyptian national companies implementing the project and all companies engaged in executing national projects. Furthermore, he noted that the projects being implemented, such as the multi-purpose terminal project in Safaga Port, are part of Comprehensive Plan of the establishment of the Grand Safaga Port Project, in addition to the third line of the high-speed electric train network project; (Qena / Hurghada / Safaga) will be a huge qualitative shift in the Red Sea Governorate and will contribute to serving the tourism activity and the transportation of passengers and cargoes; pointing out that the Port of Safaga will become an international port.
He also express his gratitude to all employees of the authorities and companies of the Ministry of Transport for their great effort in implementing the ongoing mega projects which exemplifies the tremendous qualitative shift perceived in the transportation sector during the era of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
It is worth noting that the final contract for the management, operation, maintenance and re-delivery of the superstructure of the terminal has been initialed between the General Authority of Red Sea Ports and the Abu Dhabi Ports Group Alliance of Abu Dhabi Holding Company. This contract represents the beginning of activating the Extensive Cooperation Plan between the Egyptian Ministry of Transport and Abu Dhabi Ports Group, to establish a number of projects for the logistics services sector in Egypt.
Hence, An internal logistics area will be established at the terminal to serve the traffic, handling and storage of cargoes at the multi-purpose terminal with an area of 430,000 m2, as well as the establishment of two general external industrial logistics areas allocated for value-added industries, with an area of 420,000 m2and an area of 460,000 m2.
