Abu Dhabi opens new $7.2-bn port

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi began commercial operations on Saturday at its new Khalifa Port in a multi-billion-dollar project to transfer its main container terminal from the 40-year-old port of Mina Zayed.

The new facility, built on reclaimed land five kilometres (three miles) off the coast of the Gulf emirate, received its first ship from a commercial customer, the 366-metre (1,208-foot) MSC Bari. The first phase of the project, now complete, has cost 26.6 billion dirhams ($7.2 billion), the Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) said in a statement released to coincide with the opening ceremony.

Khalifa Port, which is part of the Kizad industrial zone, now has a capacity of 2.5 million TEUs (containers) a year, with an additional 12 million tons of general cargo, including four million tons a year from the adjacent Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) berth which opened in late 2010. This capacity could double to five million TEU “in three to five years,” said Martijn Van De Linde, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Terminals, which operates Khalifa Port.

The size of the island hosting the offshore part of the port is 2.7 square kilometres (1.08 square miles), equivalent to 400 football pitches. Its total area, including onshore, is 9.1 square kilometres (3.64 square miles). The first phase of Kizad A, which is under construction, is spread over an area of 51 square kilometres (20.4 square miles), while the second phase, Kizad B, is planned to cover 365 square kilometres (146 square miles).

AFP