Khorfakkan Port plans capacity expansion to 10 million containers a year

East coast gateway can handle up to 5m containers annually, with plans to double capacity

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Dubai: Khorfakkan Port has expansion plans aimed at increasing its annual handling capacity to 5 million containers, with a longer-term ambition to reach 10 million, according to the Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority.

Located on the Gulf of Oman, Khorfakkan Port provides direct connectivity to international shipping routes and forms part of a wider network linking ports, logistics complexes, border crossings, transport networks and trade corridors across Sharjah and the UAE.

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Capacity could eventually double

Expansion plans are designed to increase the port’s ability to serve growing cargo flows while strengthening its role on international shipping routes.

Khorfakkan Port is equipped with deep-water berths and high-efficiency ship-to-shore cranes capable of accommodating the world’s largest container vessels.

Its east coast location is connected with Sharjah’s wider maritime network, which stretches to Khalid Port and Hamriyah Port on the emirate’s western coast.

Connecting sea cargo with land routes

Sharjah’s logistics network also includes complexes in Al Sajaa and Al Dhaid, together with border crossings, road networks and trade corridors that connect maritime cargo with inland distribution.

The network supports cargo distribution and re-export activity while providing additional routes for moving goods between ports and regional markets.

Cross-border trade and logistics corridors also connect the network with GCC markets, expanding the options available for regional cargo movements.

The Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority said the integrated system is intended to support smoother trade flows, strengthen supply chain resilience and improve access to regional and global markets.

Wider role in UAE trade

Khorfakkan Port’s planned capacity growth comes alongside efforts to strengthen connectivity between Sharjah’s eastern and western coasts and integrate the emirate’s ports with logistics and transport infrastructure.

The broader network is designed to improve connections between maritime and land-based trade routes while supporting the UAE’s position as a global trade and logistics hub.

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

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