Jebel Ali Port is on track to boost its capacity to 19 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) this year, the Middle East and North Africa’s (Mena) largest port said.
“With its semi-automated Terminal 3 nearing completion Jebel Ali will be able to handle more of the largest container vessels with the same efficiency that placed it at the top of the world,” said Sultan bin Sulayem, the chairman of DP World, the operator of the port.
Separately, the Jebel Ali facility ranked No 1 in terms of port productivity for handling ships less than 8,000 TEUs, according to a report by JOC.com.
The port’s berth productivity rose to 112 last year, from 103 in 2013, according to the report, which evaluated 771 ports. Productivity is defined as the average of the gross moves per hour for each call recorded in 2014.
Gross moves per hour for a single vessel call is defined as the container moves.
DP World, which operates three other ports in the UAE, handled 3.9 million TEU in the first quarter of this year in the country, a 7.7 per cent increase on a year earlier.
dalsaadi@thenational.ae
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