(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
ABU DHABI, 8th January, 2018 (WAM) -- Abu Dhabi Ports is supporting the economic plans and directives of the Abu Dhabi Government, with the aim of creating a diversified and sustainable economy based on innovation and knowledge.
Under this framework, Abu Dhabi Ports has been keen, since its establishment in 2006, to help realise the strategic priorities of the Abu Dhabi 2030 Vision, by developing and operating a range of advanced ports, including Khalifa Industrial Zone, KIZAD, which is one of the largest and key integrated industrial zones in the region.
Abu Dhabi Ports is continuing its effective role in providing high-level, international and integrated services. The "Abu Dhabi Port Establishment," which owns 50 percent of Abu Dhabi Ports, operates and manages the container terminal at Khalifa Port and provides a complete range of logistics solutions for partners and shipping lines.
The Chinese giant, COSCO Shipping Ports Limited, is expected to start operating at the new COSCO Shipping Port's Abu Dhabi Terminal at Khalifa port by 2019, as part of an agreement signed with Abu Dhabi Ports, which is expected to raise the total annual capacity of Khalifa Port to six million twenty-foot equivalent units, TEU.
Khalifa Port is one of the most advanced and developed ports in the region and one of the fastest growing ports in the world in terms of container handling. Zayed Port, established in 1972, is the oldest commercial port in Abu Dhabi. Since transferring its container handling operations to Khalifa Port, it has become an important centre of maritime tourism and the general goods trade and includes a free port that supports vital sectors, such as oil and gas.
Mussaffah Port, located in the industrial city of Mussaffah, south-west of Abu Dhabi, is emirate's the oldest port after Zayed Port. The new 53-kilometre long Mussafah Channel is the second longest channel in the region, after the Suez Canal in Egypt.
Abu Dhabi Ports is keen to promote its presence in the community by holding several events, as part of its social responsibilities.
Due to its desire to respond to the growing demands of foreign and local investors to develop their businesses in the UAE's free zones, Abu Dhabi Ports announced the enlargement of the free zone at Khalifa Port, which will become the largest in the Arab world.
Abu Dhabi Ports also signed a 50-year agreement with the Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Company Limited, JOCIC, to strengthen economic ties in the free trade zone, FTZ, area in Khalifa port.
Under the terms of the agreement, China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Construction, Jiangsu, Management, a UAE company newly established by JOCIC, will occupy and develop approximately 23.7 million square feet of the FTZ for the Chinese companies. This represents 2.2 percent of the available FTZ in KIZAD's newly allotted Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone, KPFTZ, area.
Abu Dhabi has experienced a significant increase in the number of tourists arriving through the Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal at Zayed Port and the Sir Bani Yas Coast in 2017, an increase of 11 percent compared to the previous year. The majority of tourists originate from Europe, mostly from Germany then the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia and the Netherlands, followed by the United States.
WAM/Esraa Ismail/Nour Salman
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