With operations already in full swing at the BGT, a wholly owned subsidiary of ICTSI, the focus is now on performance, employing purpose-built container handling gear and rolling out state-of-the-art IT systems in order to take advantage of the strong cargo potential in Southern Iraq, a result of the region\u2019s oilfields, which are some of the largest in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cICTSI is always looking for new opportunities,\u201d Phillip Marsham, CEO, BGT, told Port Strategy<\/i>. \u201cIraq is presently undergoing a rebuilding and growth phase, of which the port development is a major factor supporting this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
ICTSI only took over full operation in Berth 20, which consists of two quay cranes and 28 hectares of terminal, in November last year. But as part of BGT\u2019s US$130m investment programme, plans have already been made to take the terminal to a higher level of productivity and efficiency and consequently boost ICTSI\u2019s operations at the Iraqi hub of Umm Qasr.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are presently undertaking major refurbishment on the existing cranes and equipment,\u201d Mr Marsham explained. \u201cAt the same time, we\u2019re constructing a new 50 hectare 600m-long terminal, which will be equipped with new equipment to cater for this new operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExisting clients are serving the North port on the Simatech Feeder, including Hanjin, Perma, Norasia, Vasco Lines. But we have seen strong interest in our future plans from other major shipping lines,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The first 250m of berth and 13 hectares of terminal is set to be operational in 2016.<\/p>\n
Going forward, ICTSI told PS<\/i> it\u2019s keen to support clients\u2019 needs for specialised cargo opportunities. \u201cThe key driver behind the future growth in Iraq is the oil and gas sector and as such ICTSI intends to support not only the strictly containerised cargo but also look at opportunities to support the logistical chain for the oil and gas industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) is taking advantage of new opportunities in developing Iraq, with expansion planned for its Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT) at the Port of Umm Qasr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-4088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4090,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4088\/revisions\/4090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4088"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/coastlink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=4088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}