 by Hassan Baraka
The director of the Harbours and Inland Ports Authority at the Ministry of Transport, Maj.-Gen. Gamal Hegazi, says harbours and inland ports play a vital role in serving the economy. They decrease the cost of transporting commodities, storage and ship demurrage fees, and thus reduce the cost of production. Hegazi says it is therefore necessary to expand the establishment of such harbours, and has called on businesses and investors to back this important sector to serve the economy and provide job opportunities for young people.
Hegazi points to comprehensive planning for the Suez Canal axis to cover six logistics areas and coordinate with the engineering office in charge of planning to establish inland ports to serve the new areas.
The European Bank is currently finalising feasibility studies and preparing the necessary tenders for the implementation of an inland port in 6 October City with investments reaching LE80million, Hegazi says, adding that the same terms will be applied to the implementation of another port at 10 Ramadan City. A 7-km railway will be established from al-Robeiki to serve the station, which will provide 3,000 job opportunities for young people during the first phase, he says, adding that an inland port will be opened on the Suez road and constructed in cooperation with the Armed Forces.
Inland and logistics ports aim to serve industrial zones; ease the burden on harbours; prevent over crowdedness at ports; accelerate the loading and unloading of ships; and, therefore, raise the rating of such ports, Hegazi says. They also aim to reduce the cost of freight and therefore decrease the cost of production and storage, he adds.
He referred to coordination with the Industrial Development and Urban Planning authorities to allocate land for the establishment of a logistics inland port in the Golden Triangle area after planning this public industrial zone to serve these factories.
