Container wars: Can Egypt’s state operators compete with global port giants?
State-owned container terminal operators are coming under mounting pressure from global port groups that have emerged as dominant forces in the sector over recent decades.
Company insiders say anxiety is rising within publicly run operators as private terminals continue to expand, particularly because the principal shareholders in many of those ventures are also among Egypt’s most active shipping lines. Industry executives fear this could give private operators a powerful incentive to channel a larger share of their cargo volumes through the terminals they control, further eroding the position of state-owned facilities.
Gradual rise of private sector operators
Egypt’s state-owned container companies, particularly Port Said Container and Cargo Handling Company/PSCCHC and Damietta Container and Cargo Handling Company/DCCHC, face mounting challenges as three new container terminals are due to open in Port Said East, Damietta, and Sokhna in 2026.
| Port | Terminal | Concession holder |
|---|---|---|
| Damietta | Tahya Misr 1 | Consortium of Hapag-Lloyd, Contship, and Eurogate |
| Port Said East | Suez Canal Container Terminal 2 | Suez Canal Container Company and Maersk (majority stake) |
| Sokhna | Hutchinson | Consortium of Hutchinson Ports, COSCO Shipping, and CMA CGM |
The new facilities will further strengthen the private sector, whose footprint has steadily expanded since Suez Canal Container Company won the concession in 2001 to operate a terminal in Port Said East — where Danish shipping line Maersk holds the largest stake.
Momentum increased in 2008 when DP World acquired Sokhna Port and launched container operations there, drawing more attention to the race among global players for Egyptian ports.
Egypt’s dollar shortage also opened the door wider to private capital. As part of the government’s privatization drive to attract foreign currency, Saudi and Emirati investors acquired a controlling stake in Alexandria Container and Cargo Handling Company in 2022. The deal carried symbolic weight: the company is not only one of the country’s largest operators, but also Egypt’s first dedicated container terminal, established in 1984.
In parallel, the Transport Ministry has embraced a more expansive role for private operators. In 2019, Hutchison Ports was granted rights to build and operate a container terminal in Abu Qir Port in Alexandria.
This broader private-sector presence has helped improve service levels, according to specialists, including a senior Transport Ministry official familiar with the ports portfolio, who spoke to Al Manassa on condition of anonymity. The official said the ministry’s strategy of awarding certain terminal concessions to international alliances was intended to position Egyptian ports as regional hubs for maritime trade.
Private investment has already produced measurable gains. Egypt’s global ranking in this field improved from 97th in 2007 to 57th in 2023. Yet the same trend has accelerated the dominance of private operators, sharpening concerns among state-owned companies about their ability to compete on equal terms.
https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/26554551/While the private sector’s role has grown, there has been no comparable expansion by state companies, with the exception of the Tahya Masr terminal in Alexandria Port, which started operations in 2023. The terminal was built by the Egyptian Group for Multipurpose Terminals, a relatively new state-owned entity founded by a number of government bodies with a minority stake held by a French shipping line.
As the state’s role in container handling has receded — and with most public operators still relying on older equipment compared with the technology deployed at newer terminals — several shipping lines that long used the state-run facilities in Damietta and Port Said have begun shifting their business to more modern privately operated terminals, the Transport Ministry official said.
When the client provides the service
Beyond the race to deploy newer equipment, state-owned companies face another challenge: the ownership structure of the new terminal operators. Their shareholders often include the very shipping lines that call at Egyptian ports. This, executives warn, risks tilting commercial decisions in favor of privately operated facilities.
Former Transport Ministry adviser Mohamed Ali told Al Manassa that “global shipping lines are heading for major shifts in the coming period. They will reorder their port calls to focus more heavily on the new projects and terminals for which they have assumed full operational responsibility, and where they are contractually obliged to achieve specific annual throughput targets.”
The Transport Ministry source disagreed, arguing that shipping lines only use particular terminal operators if they offer a genuine competitive edge. “Operating contracts do not force any shipping line to call at a given terminal,” he said. “They are free to choose docks based on whatever they see as the best economic return.”
https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/26556030/Amid these conflicting expectations, officials at state-owned companies who spoke to Al Manassa did not hide their concern about the growing competition they will face in the years ahead.
Port Said under pressure
A closer look at the network of container terminals and their affiliated companies reveals how these intertwined relationships are already reshaping the landscape for state firms.
A board member at PSCCHC, which operates the container terminal at Port Said West, said the company’s activity has declined in recent years for several reasons, including the strong competition from the Port Said East terminal, where private investors hold the largest stake.
The board member explained to Al Manassa that some cargo shifted from Port Said West to Port Said East after “the global line Maersk reduced its reliance on Port Said West and moved its business to the terminal owned by Suez Canal Container Terminal, where it holds a significant share.”
https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/26556186/He added that the French shipping line CMA CGM, which used to call at Port Said West, recently entered into an operational alliance with Maersk and moved its business to Port Said East as well, dealing another blow to the state-owned operator.
Based on this earlier experience of intense competition from Suez Canal Container Terminal, the board member expects the risks to Port Said’s business to intensify once Suez Canal Container Terminal opens its second terminal in Port Said East next year.
Damietta’s cranes versus Hapag-Lloyd
Next year, competition inside Damietta Port will be explicit and direct between the state-owned DCCHC and the new Tahya Misr 1 terminal, which is operated by a global shipping alliance.
“Hapag-Lloyd, the line that will operate the new terminal, currently accounts for about 32% of the throughput on Damietta Container’s berth,” a board member at DCCHC said. “That points to a direct hit to the company’s performance once the new terminal comes online.”
The board member, who asked not to be named, believes that Hapag-Lloyd’s ownership of the new facility will push it to move its volumes away from the state-owned Damietta terminal. The company is working to confront these challenges by attracting new shipping lines, supplying more advanced loading and unloading equipment, and improving technical and operational processes, he added.
He told Al Manassa that the company has invested heavily in upgrades at its terminal, including the purchase of six giant yard cranes from a global manufacturer, in response to the 12 cranes Hapag-Lloyd has recently acquired for its private terminal.
Overall, the Transport Ministry official said, heightened competition between state-owned and private operators ultimately works to Egypt’s advantage by accelerating efforts to improve service quality.
But former adviser Mohamed Ali cautioned that the gains accruing to foreign operators do not necessarily align with Egypt’s wider economic interests. Revenues generated by global concessions are earned in foreign currency and largely repatriated, he noted, leaving domestic entities at a disadvantage.
Ali argued that state-owned companies must urgently upgrade their services and efficiency to ensure that the growth of container activity continues to support, rather than bypass, the Egyptian economy.