As part of the Ministry of Transportation’s Ports and Maritime Affairs’ role in regulating, developing, and promoting the ports and maritime industry, HE Engineer Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed, Minister of Transportation and Acting Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board met with APM Terminals Bahrain management team – operators of Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) to present the port’s performance for the year 2013.

During the meeting, HE the Minister reviewed the performance indicators and urged the Ports and Maritime Affairs’ officials to ensure that the performance indicators are within the range specified in the concession agreement for operating Khalifa Bin Salman Port.

His Excellency also praised the percentage of Bahrainization in the company which currently comprises 78 percent of the company’s workforce and further stressed the need to continue to invest in training staff and performance improvements in all of the company’s divisions to provide excellent service to port users.

The port operator’s plans for purchasing and acquiring new equipment and improving the port’s facilities were also discussed. In this regard, His Excellency the Minister requested a plan to be developed that highlights initiatives and strategies to attract new international shipping lines and increasing transhipment volume in the port in order to boost the Kingdom’s economy.

His Excellency requested that the operator continues to focus on safety and security aspects at the port, and to increase efforts to further enhance operational productivity in order to achieve the economic objectives.

At the conclusion of the meeting, His Excellency expressed his appreciation to the company’s management team and reemphasized the importance of MoT Ports and Maritime Affairs’ regulatory role in removing all obstacles and resolving any problems facing the ports and maritime industry in the Kingdom. APM Terminals Bahrain CEO, Mr. Marco Neelsen, presented a full overview of the programmes and projects that were implemented by the company last year related to safety and security, and also shared the port performance indicators, with a detailed explanation of the commercial operations statistics. Future plans in operations, equipment and marketing were also discussed.