Aden is recognized as a national resource with great potential, described as "Yemen's Gateway to the World". To handle the world's largest container vessels, the Aden Container Terminal (ACT) at the North Shore of Aden's Inner Harbour was designed and built. This facility was commissioned in March 1999 and provides the port with world-class container handling facilities. ACT's throughput is expected to increase from 500,000 TEU's/year by 2001 to an anticipated 3 million plus early in the next millennium.