Gulftainer

What has made the Gulftainer brand equally admired from Port Khalid in Sharjah to Port Canaveral in Florida (where it signed a 35-year concession with the Canaveral Port Authority to operate and develop its container and multipurpose cargo terminal) is its long-standing commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

When Gulftainer was established in 1976 to manage and operate the Sharjah Container Terminal on behalf of the Sharjah Port Authority, few people would have believed that it would grow to be recognised in multiple regions of the world, including the Middle East, South Asia and the Americas. Today, the company manages 40 percent of all the major container terminal facilities in the Middle East, including terminals in Jeddah and Jubail in Saudi Arabia, Umm Qasr Port in Iraq, and Tripoli Port in Lebanon.

For a more sustainable future, Gulftainer aligned its business model with the UN Global Compact principles in 2017 and launched a culture of continuous improvement by enhancing its health and safety policies and practices, launching a comprehensive well-being programme for all employees, and upgrading the accommodation and recreational facilities of its terminal workers.

Committed to minimising its carbon footprint, Gulftainer has equipped its terminals with hybrid rubbertyred gantries (RTGs), which eliminate carbon emissions while operating on a mains power supply. The company is also working to eradicate single-use plastics across its operations. Through its sevenyear partnership with the Emirates Wildlife Society in association with WWF (EWS-WWF), Gulftainer educated employees and stakeholders on the protection of the marine environment in which it operates.

But the group has been equally active on the growth front. In September 2018 it signed a 50-year, $600 million concession to develop and operate the Port of Wilmington in Delaware. This is not only one of the largest ever investments by a UAE company into the USA, but the deal will help grow the Port of Wilmington into one of the largest facilities of its kind on the Eastern Seaboard.

The move is expected to have a huge impact on the economy of the region, with the creation of 6,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Gulftainer’s continued growth means its financial success will enable it to build on its long-term legacy of enhancing communities and the environment.