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Given its strategic location, it is not surprising that the UAE has a wide range of well-equipped ports, most of them being expanded to meet the growing needs of trade. Mina (Port) Zayed in Abu Dhabi City is the emirate’s main general cargo port, whilst the terminals at Jebel Dhanna/Ruwais, Umm al-Nar, Das Island, Zirku and Mubarraz islands handle the bulk of the UAE’s crude oil and gas exports.
Mina Zayed occupies a total area of 510 hectares, including 41 hectares dedicated to container terminals that can handle around 15,000 TEUs (20-foot-equivalent-units). Abu Dhabi Seaport Authority (ADSA) and Dubai Ports International (DPI) entered into agreement in 2005 whereby DPI will develop and manage Mina Zayed. Dubai’s Ports at Port Rashid (35 berths) in Dubai City and Jebel Ali (71 berths), south of the city, play a pivotal role in trade in the UAE. Jebel Ali, which primarily handles bulk cargo and industrial material for Jebel Ali Free Zone, is the largest port in the country and the largest man-made port in the world.
Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) processed 6.25 million tonnes of general cargo in 2004, a 20 per cent growth rate and an increase of 1.035 million tonnes over 2003. The port handled about 5.15 million containers in 2004, in comparison with just 1.6 million in 1993. The Dh4.6 billion expansion project under way at Jebel Ali will enable the port to handle 21.8 million containers a year by 2020. Sharjah’s Port Khalid handles a wide variety of tonnage, ranging from tankers, container vessels, ro-ro ships, to a multitude of smaller vessels. Sharjah is building its third container terminal at Hamriyah Port, which also handles non-containerised break bulk cargo, liquid petroleum gas and petrochemical vessels.
Sharjah’s East Coast dedicated container terminal, Khor Fakkan Container Terminal (KCT), is the only natural deep-water port in the region, close to the main east-west shipping lanes and outside the Straits of Hormuz. Already one of the top container trans-shipment hub ports in the country, KCT handled 1.6 million TEUs in 2004. This is expected to grow by 30 per cent by 2007. Total storage capacity after expansion will rise to 30,000 TEUs, and handling capability to 2 million TEUs a year. Ajman Port, which has eight berths designed to handle both container and general cargo, has been dredged to 8 metres. However, plans are in place to deepen the port to 10.5 metres, enabling visits by 40,000–50,000 dwt (dead weight tonnage) ships up to 175 metres long.
Umm al-Qaiwain is well served by Ahmed bin Rashid Port and Ra’s al-Khaimah by Mina Saqr, Ra’s al-Khaimah Harbour and Al Jazeerah Harbour. In 2004, Ra’s al-Khaimah awarded Kuwaiti firm KGL a Dh165.15 million (US$45 million), 21-year contract to build, operate and manage the Port Saqr container terminal. Ra’s al-Khaimah Customs and Ports Department is also building a new 307-metre quay and is increasing the port’s draught to 10 metres, enabling the port to handle vessels of up to 30,000 tonnes.
Fujairah Port commissioned an additional 150,000 cubic metres of onshore bunker storage facilities early in 2005, ensuring that it now ranks as the second largest bunkering centre in the world, supplying 12 million tonnes of fuel oil a year, worth US$2.5 billion (Dh9.17 billion). DPI took charge of Fujairah’s container terminal in May 2005 under a 30-year concession involving an investment of over Dh568 million (US$155 million) to develop and operate the terminal, which has been renamed DPA (Dubai Ports Authority)-Fujairah Terminal.
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