DP World to hand over Mina Zayed

Abu Dhabi Terminals will take over management of the UAE capital's primary port, Mina Zayed.

Mina Zayed port will be managed by Abu Dhabi Terminals after DP World passes over control.

DP World will wind down its management of Abu Dhabi's Mina Zayed port in January following the end of its five-year contract, says the Dubai ports operator.

Mina Zayed, the capital's primary port, will now be managed by Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT), the two companies said yesterday.

The port is scheduled to be redeveloped once the emirate's marine activities are relocated to the new Khalifa Port in Taweelah, near the border with Dubai.

It is still unclear which company will manage the new Khalifa port, which is being developed by ADT's parent company, Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC), and is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2012. "We are proud of our achievements at Mina Zayed and our success in supporting our colleagues in Abu Dhabi to bring Mina Zayed in line with global standards of operations and service," said Mohammed al Muallem, the UAE managing director of DP World.

Tawfiq al Mubarak, the chairman of ADT, said managing Mina Zayed would help the company to develop its operational expertise.

"Our management team will continue to work closely with DP World to ensure a smooth transition," he said.

DP World is the world's third-largest ports operator, with some 50 terminals under management internationally. The mainstay of its UAE business is Jebel Ali port in Dubai, although it also manages operations at Fujairah port.

"The [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] contribution from the management agreement is not material" as the five-year contract to manage Mina Zayed ends, the government-controlled company said in a statement to NASDAQ Dubai yesterday.

This month, DP World announced it had agreed to sell a 75 per cent stake in its Australian unit, which operates terminals at five ports in the country, to Citi Infrastructure Investors and a partner for A$1.5 billion (Dh5.59bn).

This year, ADPC said Khalifa Port would have an initial capacity to handle two million TEU's (20-foot equivalent unit containers) when its first phase of development was completed in 2012, and that by 2030 capacity would rise to 15 million TEU's.

Khalifa Port will be located offshore and connected by causeways to the mainland, where it will link with an industrial zone spanning 51 square kilometres in its first phase of development, costing Dh26.5bn (Dh7.21bn).

By 2030, the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) is planned to have created 150,000 jobs and be contributing 15 per cent of the emirate's non-oil GDP, according to officials.

Last month, ADPC announced it had received approval to make KIZAD the first industrial free zone in the capital, with 100 per cent ownership available to foreign investors.

With the emirate's industrial and marine focus switching to KIZAD, Mina Zayed is expected to be redeveloped into residential and commercial space by local developers including Aldar.

* with Bloomberg