ADT completes transitioning 30% of its container business

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT) on Monday completed transitioning of 30 per cent of its container business from Mina Zayed to the Khalifa Port Container Terminal, two months ahead of schedule, ADT said in a statement.

Martijn Van de Linde, CEO of ADT, said: “We had initially anticipated completion of the transitioning process by the end of the first quarter of 2013, but now we are projecting completion in January 2013.”

Linde added: “This has been made possible by Khalifa Port’s ability to deliver more efficient, cost-effective, and better levels of services since day one of operations, which is a clear demonstration of the Container Terminal delivering its value proposition.”

The statement showed that of the 25,763 TEUs that have been offloaded at Khalifa Port Container Terminal to date, 19,889 units or 77 per cent of these, were offloaded after 1 of September. It revealed that the total number of TEUs handled by Mina Zayed and Khalifa Port combined was 550,902.

Logistics hub

Khalifa Port is Abu Dhabi’s new logistics hub with the capacity to accommodate Mina Zayed’s traffic, as well as the cargo traffic that will be generated by Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad). The port will be having a capacity of 15 million TEUs and 35 million tonnes of general cargo annually, Khalifa Port aims to be one of the world’s largest ports by 2030.

Numan Ashour, UAE based Chief Economist, told the Gulf News: “Khalifa Port is a landmark and will help move containers from the centre of Abu Dhabi where Mina Zayed is to Khalifa Port which is a junction point between Al Ain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi to be able to unload the world’s mightiest ships today and to handle even greater vessels that might be developed in years to come.”