Traffic to boom at Abu Dhabi ports as new projects gather pace

Container traffic at Khalifa Port is expected to climb to about 1.1 million containers this year. Reuters

Abu Dhabi Ports Co (ADPC) expects a surge in shipping traffic towards the end of the year as work on major infrastructure projects in the capital gathers pace, the company’s chief executive said.

Container traffic at Khalifa Port is expected to climb to about 1.1 million containers this year, up 22 per cent from 905,000 containers last year, when traffic rose 17 per cent, Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi said.

Meanwhile, general and bulk cargo traffic at Khalifa and Zayed ports combined is expected to top 12 million tonnes this year, up from 9.3 million tonnes last year and roughly the same volume in 2012.

“It is going to be a big jump, but all the givens that we have at the moment are pointing towards it,” Mr Al Shamisi said.

“We expect a big rise in the last quarter of this year in general and project cargo, because most of the vital projects in the emirate of Abu Dhabi will be in the maturing stage. We expect from September and into next year there will be a spike.”

Khalifa Port, built on a man-made island roughly halfway between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, came on-stream in 2012 after Zayed Port, which had been serving Abu Dhabi for over 40 years, reached full capacity.

The new port faces competition from other rapidly growing facilities in the region including Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, which is only about 40 kilometres north along the Arabian Gulf coast. Mr Al Shamisi’s projections, however, suggest demand related to Abu Dhabi’s construction projects will keep activity at Khalifa growing for a while.

Abu Dhabi is investing billions of dollars in infrastructure, real estate and tourism to diversify its economy beyond oil. Strategic projects under way or in the pipeline include the expansion of Abu Dhabi International Airport, the Abu Dhabi Louvre museum and construction of a nuclear power station, where the first reactor is expected to start operations in 2017 and others are planned to follow in 2020.

ADPC is the owner, operator and developer of Abu Dhabi’s civilian non-oil ports and its industrial zones. It is therefore expected to benefit from expansion plans scheduled for industries located in the adjacent Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi, which is projected to provide 15 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil GDP by 2030.

“Through Khalifa Port, Emirates Aluminium (Emal) for example receives all of its raw materials and exports its aluminium to all over the world, and now that it is increasing its capacity, this will increase the traffic as well,” Mr Al Shamisi said.

Emal’s US$4bn project to boost its aluminium production capacity from about 800,000 tonnes a year to 1.3 million tonnes a year is ahead of schedule and expected to near completion in the middle of this year.

Other manufacturers using Abu Dhabi ports include Emirates Steel, which is projected to import about 5 million tonnes of raw material thisyear, and the plastics and polymers maker Borouge.

Khalifa Port now has an annual capacity of 2.5 million containers, which could be raised to 5 million in the first phase of the port’s development, depending on demand. Abu Dhabi’s long-term goal is to increase capacity to 15 million containers and 35 million tonnes of bulk cargo by 2030.

Although Port Zayed still handles some general cargo, Mr Al Shamisi said, “Port Zayed will continue to serve Abu Dhabi but we want it now to focus on cruise vessels.”

Ninety-two cruise vessels called at the port last year, with more than 160,000 tourists visiting Abu Dhabi through the port. Construction of a permanent terminal to receive tourist ships is under way.

“The facilities that are there now are working but are only temporary, and we are working on having permanent facilities for cruise vessels and developing the infrastructure,” Mr Al Shamisi said.

“This is a natural cycle for ports, where the city grows around the port and then the facility reaches full capacity and is transformed into a tourist hub while commercial activity moves elsewhere.”

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