People & Institutions
Gulftainer Company Limited
Investment licence of the National Investment Commission, for the project: Construction of the Iraq container station at Umm Qasr.
شركة غلفتينر المحدودة
Legal status
Not charged as of the date of writing
Not charged as of the date of writing. No court ruling, Integrity Commission statement, audit finding, licence withdrawal, sanctions listing or credible press accusation naming the company was found in the sources opened (status as of 5 October 2026).
The licence as listed
The list of licensed projects of the National Investment Commission.
- Licensing body
- National Investment Commission
- Licence number
- 102/2016
- Date of grant
- 28 September 2016
- Sector
- Services
- Project
- Construction of the Iraq container station at Umm Qasrانشاء محطة حاويات العراق في ام قصر
- Licensee
- شركة غلفتينر المحدودة (Emirati)
- Province
- Basra
- Location
- البصرة
- Stated cost
- $87 million
- State of the project
- Completed (100% complete)
Who is behind the licensee
foreign company
| Name | Role | Legal status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
Crescent Enterprises (through its CE-Operates platform) | Shareholder: holds a 50% stake in Gulftainer, according to Crescent Enterprises. Crescent Enterprises is a subsidiary of the Crescent Group. | Not charged as of the date of writing Not charged as of the date of writing (status as of 5 October 2026). | crescententerprises.com |
Badr Jafar | Chief Executive Officer of Crescent Enterprises (50% shareholder of Gulftainer) and President of Crescent Petroleum, according to Crescent Enterprises. | Not charged as of the date of writing Not charged as of the date of writing (status as of 5 October 2026). | crescententerprises.com |
Farid Belbouab | Group Chief Executive Officer of Gulftainer, according to the company website (October 2026). Not stated to have held the post when the licences were issued in 2016. | Not charged as of the date of writing Not charged as of the date of writing (status as of 5 October 2026). | gulftainer.com |
Tushar Singhvi | Chairman of Gulftainer's Executive Board and Deputy CEO and Head of Investments at Crescent Enterprises, according to the Gulftainer website (October 2026). | Not charged as of the date of writing Not charged as of the date of writing (status as of 5 October 2026). | gulftainer.com |
What official and press reports say
- Official findings
- None found in the sources opened.
- What became of the project
- Both projects operate. Licence 101/2016 of 28/9/2016: logistics station at Umm Qasr port, Basra, stated cost USD 45,000,000. Licence 102/2016 of 28/9/2016: Iraq Container Terminal at Umm Qasr, stated cost USD 87,000,000. The completion column reads '1' for both. Gulftainer states that Iraq Container Terminal was commissioned in 2010 and that Umm Qasr Logistics Centre opened in 2014 on an area of 750,000 square metres. It states that the terminal had handled a total of 3 million TEU since 2010 by 2025. These operating dates come before the 2016 licence dates. The sources opened do not explain the gap.
- Other contracts with the state
- Gulftainer's own timeline says it began operations at Iraq Container Terminal, Umm Qasr, in 2010 and at North Port Berth 11 in 2012, and opened Umm Qasr Logistics Centre in 2014. It says its subsidiary Momentum Logistics set up a freight forwarding division in Umm Qasr and Erbil in 2014. The terms of its operating contract with the General Company for Ports of Iraq (length, revenue share, fees) were not found in the sources opened.
Sources
- About Us, Gulftainer (company website) Tier A
Commenced operations at Iraq Container Terminal, Umm Qasr, Iraq
- About Us, Gulftainer (company website) Tier A
Umm Qasr Logistics Centre opened to provide and further enhance supply chain solutions in Iraq
- About Us, Gulftainer (company website) Tier A
Iraq Container Terminal handled a total of 3M TEUs since 2010
- About Us (leadership), Gulftainer (company website) Tier A
Farid Belbouab, Group CEO of Gulftainer, is a globally experienced executive and entrepreneur
- About Us (Executive Board), Gulftainer (company website) Tier A
Tushar Singhvi is the Deputy CEO and Head of Investments at Crescent Enterprises
- Iraq Container Terminal, Gulftainer (company website) Tier A
Iraq Container Terminal commissioned in 2010, is one of Gulftainer’s key investments in Iraq.
- Umm Qasr Logistics Centre, Gulftainer (company website) Tier A
The Umm Qasr Logistics Centre is a fully integrated logistics facility developed north of Umm Qasr Port, covering an area of 750,000 sq m
- CE-Operates, Crescent Enterprises (company website) Tier A
CE-Operates holds a 50% stake in Gulftainer and provides strategic guidance through its representation on Gulftainer’s Board and various committees
- Home, Crescent Enterprises (company website) Tier A
Crescent Enterprises is a subsidiary of the Crescent Group
- Our People, Crescent Enterprises (company website) Tier A
Badr Jafar is the CEO of Crescent Enterprises and President of Crescent Petroleum
Other licences of the same licensee
- Construction of the logistics station at Umm Qasr portNational commission, 28 September 2016, $45 million, Completed