Fujairah National Shipping to boost UAE investments

'Further opportunities will come our way with the expansion of the emirate's port and the market opening up,' says chief executive

Fujairah National Shipping sees opportunities in the emirate Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

The UAE maritime services company Fujairah National Shipping (FNS) is stepping up investments in the emirate, aiming to benefit from expanding Arabian Gulf shipping trade, its chief executive said.

Fujairah, on the east coast, is the country's only multi-purpose port outside the Strait of Hormuz, giving it direct access to the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean.

Fujairah's shipping trade continued to exceed the port's capacity and FNS, a unit of conglomerate Fujairah National Group, had made a "multimillion-dollar" investment to take advantage of the planned expansion of the port, the chief executive Sanjeev Sarin said, declining to provide details.

Mr Sarin said the company had acquired ships - including bunker barges - and oil storage facilities in Fujairah as well as looking into acquiring land in the area of the port under development that would create dry docking facilities.

He said between 100 and 130 ships were at anchor every day in and around Fujairah's waters and that number was expected to rise, putting more pressure on servicing those vessels.

"The number of bunker barges has reached saturation point ... because the location can't handle it," Mr Sarin said.

"We believe there will be further opportunities that will come our way with the expansion of the port and the market opening up."

In June, Abu Dhabi Ports said it had signed a 35-year concession to develop and manage the Port of Fujairah.

Fujairah National Group is owned by Sheikh Sultan Bin Saleh Al Sharqi, a member of the emirate's ruling family and separately chairman of Fujairah's port.