Abu Dhabi: A recent international survey ranked the UAE 14th globally in the maritime sector, with the country’s maritime industry seeing up to $65 billion (Dh238.74 billion) invested in 2018.

The ranking assessment was conducted by Menon Economics and DNV-GL, which looked at areas such as maritime technology in which the UAE was ranked 30th, maritime finance and law (22nd), and maritime ports and logistics (4th).

“Today, the UAE is ranked 14th globally in the maritime industry and our goal is to soon be among the Top 10 ranked countries in the world in this important sector,” said Dr Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, during a press briefing announcing the results of the survey.

“Our current infrastructure is very good and we continue to strive for excellence, we want to be among the best in this area and so we will continue to improve our infrastructure and logistics, technology and laws,” he added

Al Nuaimi explained that several coordinated meetings were being carried out between federal and local government bodies to improve the UAE’s global maritime standings.

“We are putting our plans forward to both federal and local government organisations. We want everyone to work together as one team, rather than each federal or local government body working individually.

“All of us have the same goal, we are not competing against each other, we are working to [improve] the UAE and all its ports and regions,” he added.

“In 2018 the total investments made in all our ports was around $65 billion, so there is a big economic benefit in this sector for our country,” he said.

Al Nuaimi also said the UAE’s Federal Transport Authority’s Land and Maritime unit was holding several key discussions with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), with the UAE providing its recommendations and ideas on how to improve the maritime industry as a whole globally.

“We have many ideas, and we have presented these ideas to the IMO and its secretary-general, with many good discussions held over the past year on how we can improve the maritime sector for the future.”

Al Nuaimi also commented separately on Etihad Rail and said the Federal Transport Authority was working together with them to improve the UAE’s overall transport infrastructure.