One of the major Container Shipping lines serving Gulftainer's Sharjah Container Terminal (SCT) is APL who have a regular weekly call with their CMX service, which gives comprehensive coverage of Far East ports for Gulf markets.

This service has been regularly upgraded over recent years at least in part to cater for the rapidly expanding volumes in Sharjah and (increasingly) the rest of the UAE, served via SCT.

The first vessel in the latest APL service enhancement called SCT at the end of March, and this maiden call turned out to be notable in several respects.

At 4000 teu capacity and 40,000 GRT the 'APL ARGENTINA' was one of the biggest container ships ever to berth at SCT - but even more significantly, the time pressed vessel was worked at record speed by the Terminal with a productivity of over 115 moves per hour - thanks to the usual SCT time saving efficiency and also the (usual) good operational assistance from the line. Subsequent ships have included the 4700 teu newbuildings 'APL Oakland' and ' APL Los Angeles' .

"APL ARGENTINA" at SCT

Terminal Manager Paul Hennessy said "We always get excellent co-operation from APL and of course this helps to make our task easier and ensures that we can achieve optimum efficiency to speed the operation at the Terminal. On this occasion of the maiden call of the first of their new series of bigger ships, it is especially gratifying that - together - we could achieve a record breaking performance."

"APL OAKLAND" at SCT

GTL - MTI - more equipment in Pakistan

GTL-MTI, Gulftainer's Joint Venture with the Pak Shaheen Group for which the contract was signed in November 2006, successfully started operations in December 2006. The company is headquartered in Karachi and with operations centres in Faisalabad, Lahore and Islamabad is ideally placed to service clients throughout the country and beyond.

This well managed transport company dedicated to providing cost effective high quality transport services, has been very well received by customers in Pakistan, so much so that GTL-MTI is expanding its operations.

Based on this success the Board of Directors of the company has approved the purchase of new equipment and this will include specialist trailers as shown for example in the attached photograph.These are :

2 x Tri Axle - 80 tonne capacity - 12 metre Bed units and 2 x Four Axle - 120 tonne capacity - 12 metre Bed units- unique in Pakistan. The manufacturer is ACP - (Automoble Company of Pakistan). They are for use on recently won contracts with Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd. and Pakistan Petroleum Ltd - The two leading development and production companies in Pakistan.

MTI is developing a fully integrated service for the burgeoning Oil, Gas and Mineral sectors in Pakistan.

Pictured are representatives from GTL-MTI Karachi, Gulftainer Sharjah and the manufacturers ACP, at the Karachi works site.

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