Shifting operations: Abu Dhabi opens new $7.2b port
The new facility has been built on reclaimed land five kilometres off the coast of the Gulf emirate.
ABU DHABI:
Oil-rich Abu Dhabi began commercial operations on Saturday at its new Khalifa Port; in a multi-billion-dollar project to transfer its main container terminal from the 40-year-old port of Mina Zayed.
The new facility has been built on reclaimed land five kilometres off the coast of the Gulf emirate. The first phase of the project, now complete, has cost 26.6 billion dirhams ($7.2 billion), the Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) said in a statement.
Khalifa Port, which is part of the Kizad industrial zone, now has a capacity of 2.5 million TEUs (containers) a year, with an additional 12 million tons of general cargo, including four million tons a year from the adjacent Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) berth which opened in late 2010.
The ultimate aim is to take the annual capacity of the port to 15 million TEU by 2030, ADPC said. This is more than the amount handled by Dubai’s nearby Jebel Ali port, which handled 13 million TEU last year.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2012.
Oil-rich Abu Dhabi began commercial operations on Saturday at its new Khalifa Port; in a multi-billion-dollar project to transfer its main container terminal from the 40-year-old port of Mina Zayed.
The new facility has been built on reclaimed land five kilometres off the coast of the Gulf emirate. The first phase of the project, now complete, has cost 26.6 billion dirhams ($7.2 billion), the Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) said in a statement.
Khalifa Port, which is part of the Kizad industrial zone, now has a capacity of 2.5 million TEUs (containers) a year, with an additional 12 million tons of general cargo, including four million tons a year from the adjacent Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) berth which opened in late 2010.
The ultimate aim is to take the annual capacity of the port to 15 million TEU by 2030, ADPC said. This is more than the amount handled by Dubai’s nearby Jebel Ali port, which handled 13 million TEU last year.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2012.