Abu Dhabi: The major ports in Abu Dhabi are expecting a high volume of business from September this year thanks to increased demand from several key infrastructure projects in the emirate, a top official has told Gulf News.
High volumes of business are expected from the ongoing infrastructure projects such as Emirates Steel, Abu Dhabi Airport and ENEC (Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation), Captain Mohammad Juma Al Shamsi, the CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC), said.
ADPC owns and operates nine non-oil ports in the emirate, including the state-of-the-art Khalifa Port.
ADPC’s growing general cargo volumes at Khalifa Port, Musaffah Port and Zayed Port are a further indication of the emirate’s economic upswing, Al Shamsi said.
“The cargo volumes increased by 31 per cent in first quarter of 2014 to 2.73 million freight tonnage (FT), from 2.09 million FT in 2013 first quarter.”
As the market demand increases, Khalifa Port, which officially started operations in December 2012, is being developed in phases to expand its capacity.
The first phase is complete at a cost of Dh26.5 billion ($7.2 billion). Currently, the port’s annual capacity is 2.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) and 12 million tonnes of general cargo.
Zayed Port in Abu Dhabi City is now developing its capacity for general and bulk cargo. The port is currently remapping all of its processes, analysing its use of equipment and business efficiencies to meet the expected peak demand from September 2014 onwards.
“Although volumes of bulk cargo have remained steady at Zayed Port we anticipate an increase as production at Emirates Steel increases and building projects across the emirate accelerate.”
Container traffic from the Zayed Port has moved to Khalifa Port, which has been designed as a cornerstone of Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 that envisages diversifying the emirate’s economy, away from oil and gas. When all development phases are completed, Khalifa Port and the adjacent Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad) are expected to contribute 15 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil GDP.
Companies located next to Khalifa Port and those setting up in Kizad will add to the port’s cargo throughput over the next years. Emirates Aluminium EMAL and Borouge recently signed long term contracts with ADPC and Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT) to increase and consolidate their export activities through Khalifa Port.
The ship to shore (STS) cranes at Khalifa Port can reach across 22 container stacks, and are able to handle the largest container vessels sailing the oceans today. Vessels with a capacity of up to 14,000 TEUs are currently calling at Khalifa Port, and the nine STS cranes can handle up to 315 containers per hour (35 containers per crane, per hour).
Khalifa Port’s automated stacking cranes (ASCs) are operated through a specially designed system which organises the containers in the container yard. Two ASCs cover an area (stack) in which up to 2,000 TEUs can be stacked. Twelve more ASCs have been installed at Khalifa Port this year, increasing the overall stacking capacity by 40 per cent, the official said.
