Artificial island would offer deep berths for largest crude carriers
Fujairah is studying a plan to develop an offshore island built from sand and rock blasted from the mountains that surround the port.
But unlike Dubai's artificial island construction boom of the last decade, this is about attracting tankers, not tourists.
It comes as the port develops infrastructure needed to become a crude export hub in addition to being an oil storage and bunkering centre.
Very large crude carriers (VLCCs) are supertankers capable of carrying more than 150,000 tonnes of cargo and require deep berths when fully loaded. One option to handle more of these ships in Fujairah and so boost crude traffic from the port would be to build an island offshore where the sea is deeper.
Another option is to install an underwater pipe to transport the crude to what is known as a single- point mooring (SPM).
"We are approaching customers to see if there is demand," said Captain Moosa Murad, the general manager of the Port of Fujairah. "Maybe an SPM, maybe a sea island. It is under study."
The port operates seven oil berths running as deep as 18 metres and is building another two.
Crude oil moving from Habshan in Abu Dhabi to Fujairah through the under-construction Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline will also be transported to VLCCs via three SPMs. Each will have the capacity to transfer some 80,000 barrels of oil per hour to ships in the harbour.
* Sean Cronin
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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