UAE's Gulftainer Acquires 51% Stake in Saudi Gulf Stevedoring

Gulftainer Co Ltd, the United Arab Emirates' second-largest port operator, said on Sunday it had acquired a 51 percent stake in Saudi Arabia's Gulf Stevedoring Contracting Company.

The acquisition allowed Gulftainer to assume full management of three Saudi terminals, located inJeddah and Jubail, making it the largest port operator in the Middle East by number of terminals, it said in an e-mailed statement.

At the Jeddah Islamic Port, Gulftainer will operate the Northern Container Terminal (NCT) on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, Jubail Commercial Port (JCP) and Jubail Industrial Port (JIP) on the east coast.

The privately held firm did not provide financial details of the transaction. The group operates and manages ports and logistics businesses in several countries, including the UAE, Iraq, Pakistan,Russia, Brazil, Lebanon and Turkey.

The company now manages 40 percent of all major container terminal facilities in the Middle East that have the capacity to handle ships of 12,000 TEU - or twenty-foot equivalent container unit - or greater in size, and 45 percent of all major port capacity outside of the Strait of Hormuz, it said in the statement.

The UAE is also home to DP World, the world's third-largest port operator, which operates more than 60 terminals across six continents.

Reporting By Mirna Sleiman; Editing by Nick Macfie (C) Reuters 2013.