Abu Dhabi Ports has entered a concession agreement with the Port of Fujairah that will grant it exclusive rights to develop port infrastructure, including making berths deeper to let bigger vessels pass.
It will also manage the port’s operations as part of the 35-year concession agreement, both parties said.
“This agreement comes in line with the directives of Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Fujairah, to further develop the Port of Fujairah and support the strategic role it plays in enhancing the UAE’s economic growth,” said Sheikh Saleh bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, chairman of the Fujairah Department of Industry and Economy.
“We look forward to working closely with Abu Dhabi Ports in making this strategic partnership mutually beneficial both in the short and long term and enhancing Fujairah Port’s capabilities and strengths both regionally and internationally.”
The deal gives Abu Dhabi Port the exclusive right to enhance existing infrastructure as well as managing container, general cargo, roll-on roll-off and cruise ships in the port. The agreement also gives Abu Dhabi Ports exclusivity in the Emirate of Fujairah for container businesses.
“This concession agreement reflects Abu Dhabi Port’s and Port of Fujairah’s efforts to develop infrastructure in the UAE in line with the leadership’s vision to help drive economic and trade growth across all sectors. We strongly believe that developing Fujairah Port and increasing its capabilities will enable it keep up with the industry’s constant growth,” said Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and chairman of Abu Dhabi Ports.
“Abu Dhabi Ports will utilise all its capabilities and expertise to enable Port of Fujairah to achieve its objectives, based on best practices. In particular we plan to leverage the geography of this strategic port to contribute to the development of the UAE’s commercial and tourism sectors,” he added.
Fujairah has been positioning itself as a regional oil trading hub, which is a national objective for the UAE.
In the past decade, the port has tripled its berths to nine and increased shipping traffic more than eight-fold, with the port handling more than 2,200 vessels last year.
Onshore storage capacity has increased twenty-fold in the past two decades to 10 million cubic tonnes and the port operator has plans to increase that to 14 million cubic tonnes by 2020, said Captain Mousa Murad, the Port of Fujairah general manager.
Fujairah in September opened a US$175 million jetty, giving it the capacity to berth very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, the most common class of oil-carrying supertankers.
mkassem@thenational.ae