Free zones are optimising through technology
An overview on future challenges facing free zone operation models
n today’s turbulent world, where we have seen events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical uncertainties, the need for having a robust and resilient supply chain has become evident to businesses across all industries. Businesses have realised the significance of decentralising their supply chains to reduce concentration risk by establishing new distribution hubs that serve as insurance against potential risks to the supply chain. Our resilient operations, technology initiatives and ecosystem have enabled our customers to navigate through these disruptions easily.
The integrated ecosystem offered by Jafza allows companies to deploy resilient supply chain strategies that combine nearshoring and intermediate processing with multimodal logistics. In January 2023, Jafza was awarded the Best Integrated Free Zone title at The Business Tabloid Awards.
Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) has nearly five decades of experience and is home to over 9,500+ companies. Our strategic location is ideal for connecting markets from East to West. Jebel Ali port, which handles 80 per cent of Dubai’s trade volumes, directly connects Jafza companies to 180 global ports through 80+ weekly services. Jafza is also connected to Dubai World Central, where Emirates SkyCargo provides air connectivity to 300 cities through its freight network. The integrated ecosystem offered by Jafza allows companies to deploy resilient supply chain strategies that combine nearshoring and intermediate processing with multimodal logistics. In January 2023, Jafza was awarded the Best Integrated Free Zone title at The Business Tabloid Awards.
We recently welcomed HIMA, a world leader in automated safety solutions. They established a large regional office in Jafza. As their MD explained, through its regional office, it will cover 67 countries in the GCC, Middle East and Africa – he further said Jafza is the only location from which they can serve such a large market.
Many people think that the answer to the supply chain question is additional capacity – but the answer is not buying additional ships or creating more capacity at the port, but rather optimising what’s available, and for that, you need technology. That brings me to my next important point, which is technological enhancements.
It’s crucial to have a long-term perspective when it comes to investment in technology, and our ongoing investments in various technology solutions are yielding benefits for our customers. To reduce the administrative burden of our customers, which could be a very cumbersome process, we pioneered the single-window technology by developing the Dubai Trade Platform to carry out trade and logistics-related activities. The portal integrates the major stakeholders, such as Jebel Ali Port, Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai Customs, importers and exporters, shipping lines and agents, clearing and forwarding agents, and hauliers, to offer 700+ trade and logistics services. We also collaborated with Dubai Customs and Dubai Municipality to launch the Zadi platform, which facilitates cross-border trade for food shipments. Zadi will help over 18,000 companies in Dubai execute 360,000 transactions annually.
Further talking about sustainability initiatives, we have made significant strides in this direction. We have invested Dh80 million in energy-efficient LED streetlights and Dh105 million in retrofitting existing facilities; these initiatives will lead to a 30 per cent reduction in energy consumption.
We also collaborate with Etihad ESCO, Siraj Power, and GES to implement the largest solar rooftop project in the Middle East, generating 36 MW of power. We installed 157,000 rooftop solar panels across our parking facilities, achieving more than 36,000 tons of annual carbon emissions reduction.
As the trade landscape continues to evolve, we are committed to providing our customers with comprehensive technology solutions to support their business needs. Our focus will be on integrating additional services, including smart logistics solutions, to optimise time and cost efficiency for our customers. Further, we are constantly investing in building diverse infrastructures to cater for the growing market demands.