Abu Dhabi Ports seals 35-year concession to manage and expand the Port of Fujairah

Abu Dhabi Ports has signed a 35-year concession agreement to manage the Port of Fujairah in the UAE’s northeast after a previous deal with Dubai’s DP World ended.

Under the deal, Abu Dhabi Ports has established new wholly owned operational arm named Fujairah Terminals that will oversee management of the strategically important port – the country’s only multi-purpose dock outside of the Strait of Hormuz.

Through the agreement, the unit will have exclusivity on enhancing existing infrastructure and managing all container, general cargo, roll-on-/roll-off and cruise ships in the port. It will also have exclusivity on the container business throughout Fujairah emirate.

The deal will see Abu Dhabi Ports deepen the port’s berths to 16.5m to enable it to cater to larger vessels and build a 300,000 sqm storage space and an additional 1km quay to accommodate growing ship traffic.

Abu Dhabi Ports will also work to install new STS post panama quay cranes, rubber tyred gantry cranes and IT systems to facilitate ship operators.

“Abu Dhabi Ports will utilise all its capabilities and expertise to enable Fujairah Ports to achieve its objectives, based on best practices. In particular we plan to leverage the geography of this strategic port to contribute to the development of the UAE’s commercial and tourism sectors,” said Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE minister of state and chairman of Abu Dhabi Ports.

Captain Mousa Murad, general manager of the Port of Fujairah, said the deal would allow the re-export of goods that arrive at Khalifa Port to India, Pakistan and East Africa as well as the receiving of general cargo for clients in the northern emirates.

DP World said in April that it had ended its agreement to expand and develop the port, without giving a reason.

The development of the berths will begin in 2018 during which time the port will remain operational. Additional capacity and quay cranes will begin operations in 2021.

The ports capacity is expected to reach 1 million TEUs and 700,000 tonnes of general cargo by 2030