The importance of Jebel Ali Port in UAE history cannot be overstated.
Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed, who was Dubai's Ruler between 1958 and 1990, had made the decision to build a port 40 kilometres outside the centre of the city, in the tiny town of Jebel Ali.
It was a move that concerned some, as they thought it may take business away from Port Rashid, which had opened only seven years earlier, but still he pressed ahead.
Those worries were soon washed away as Jebel Ali Port, which was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II in February 1979, went on to become the largest man-made deepwater harbour, one of the busiest ports in the Middle East and one of the biggest in the world.
February 26, 1979 was a historic day in more ways than one, as it fell during Queen Elizabeth's first trip to the UAE as monarch.
She was on a three-day visit with her husband Prince Philip to the UAE, which was then only eight years old, and had arrived on Saturday, February 24 in Abu Dhabi to meet Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father.
The next day, on Sunday, she flew from Al Ain to Dubai, to meet Sheikh Rashid, who she'd seen 10 years earlier in London.
It was on the Monday that the queen formally opened Jebel Ali Port, along with a desalination port. “It is one of man's ancient dreams to turn the desert green and seawater fit for drinking,” she was quoted as saying by the newspaper Al Ittihad. “Here in Dubai, this dream will become reality.”
Today, the port's four terminals accommodate the world's largest ships and about 10 per cent of the planet’s global container traffic passes through it. More than 8,000 companies hailing from over 100 countries are based there, according to the free zone, and it's created 135,000 jobs.
It stands as a benchmark of success now, but its construction was no easy feat. Land was reclaimed, roads were built and an entire village was created to accommodate the hundreds of workers who made it all happen.
What was once a small town on the outskirts of an exciting, burgeoning city has become a beacon of economic growth and, thanks to Expo 2020 Dubai, Al Maktoum International Airport and Dubai South, not to mention the UAE's coming Etihad Rail, is inching its way into the centre of the emirate's future.
Prince William, who this week embarked on his first official trip to the UAE, retraced her footsteps at the docks on Thursday, 43 years on.
The port's owner, DP World, along with Emirates and Etihad, is a major contributor to the Duke of Cambridge's United for Wildlife campaign to tackle a global criminal animal trafficking trade worth $150 billion. And so the British royal visited to see how customs officers tackle the illegal trade in wildlife, which is among the world’s five most lucrative crimes and is often run by highly organised criminal gangs.
Their demonstration, which the duke watched with an eagle eye, showed how the scale of the task facing Jebel Ali Port's workers has changed, but is no less significant more than four decades after Queen Elizabeth stepped foot there.
See photos from Prince William's first official UAE visit here:
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%208
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OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
WISH
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The%20specs
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The specs: 2018 Genesis G70
Price, base / as tested: Dh155,000 / Dh205,000
Engine: 3.3-litre, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 370hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 510Nm @ 1,300rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.6L / 100km
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