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Khalifa Port begins operation

ABU DHABI — Mina Zayed will continue to handle general cargo for a number of years to come, while a portion left idle after the transfer of containerise traffic to the Khalifa Port, will be used as cruise terminal, a top official said.

Mina Zayed, which was built 40-years ago, will continue to play its role in the trade and commerce of the Emirate, as “iron, steel, automobiles, lime stone, project cargo of oil and gas industry, wheat and edible oil would continue to be handled there,” Martijn Van de linde, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Terminal (ADT) — the port operator, told Khaleej Times on the sideline of Khalifa Port inauguration on Saturday.

Martijn Van de Linde; Captain Mohamed Al Shamisi, executive vice-president, Abu Dhabi Port Company (ADPC), and Tony Douglas, chief executive of ADPC, at the inauguration of Khalifa Port. — KT photos by Nezar Balout

He said that the container traffic would be relocated to Khalifa Port in the next five to six months, while everything which is non containerised will stay in Mina Zayed.

“The operations at the new port has begun by 15 per cent transfer of container business,” he said, adding that the downtown port has the capacity to handle five million tones of cargo.

To a question about the new port’s capacity utilisation in the first year of operations, he said: “When the transition is complete, we will utilise 60 per cent of the available capacity at the new port. So we have room to grow.” He said that the business at the port has grown between seven to nine per cent this year.

“Also, what we foresee in terms of productivity being expanded in basic industries like aluminium and others will bring more capacity online, and that will drive our growth,” said the chief executive.

Noting that the export-import ratio at Mina Zayed was about 80 to 20, he said Khalifa’s growth would be driven by exports.

The container traffic would be relocated to Khalifa Port in the next five to six months, while everything which is non containerised will stay in Mina Zayed, according to ADT chief executive Martijn Van de linde.

“We currently handle about 10-15 ships a week at Mina Zayed, so similar amount would be handled here at Khalifa Port,” he explained in reply to a query about the anticipated vessel movement at the new port. “But, gradual ramping up from where we have started right now, we are handling four ships, a week, which will increase to 15 vessels by year-end,” Martijn Van de Linde said.

Mina Zayed, which is located in the heart of the city, has served the emirate as a destination port for several decades, he said.

The tremendous growth in commerce which Abu Dhabi has experienced in recent years and to cater to the up-coming industrialisation taking place in Taweelah in line with the targets set out in the Abu Dhabi’s Vision 2030, a new port infrastructure facility has to be built.

He said that Mina Zayed is fully utilised so the operations had to be moved to another location along with an expansion in the capacity to meet the future needs.

— haseeb@khaleejtime.com