An additional 1,000 metres of quay wall and the dredging of its main channel and basin from 16 to 18 m has been given the green light. The new quay wall will bring 600,000 sqm of cargo handling capability on stream.
National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) has been awarded the contract to start preparatory work on dredging the channels and using the material to build up the new quay wall and adjacent yard behind it.
Khalifa Port’s current capacity is 2.5m teu and 12 million tonnes of general cargo. Further phases of development are earmarked as market demand requires and will eventually boost the city centre port’s capacity to 15m teu and 35m tonnes of general cargo annually.
ADP ceo, Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, said the latest phase of development would “future proof” Khalifa Port in the “short to medium term” by enabling it to handle the world’s largest vessels.
“This ambitious expansion is crucial to ensuring Abu Dhabi remains a global trade and investment hub as well as supporting our local industries,” Shamisi said.
“Over the past few years we have invested in building an integrated, technology enabled platform and physical infrastructure for our customers to become an enabler for key business sectors in line with the Abu Dhabi Plan and Vision 2030. Today sees us take this to the next level as a maritime centre and as the gateway to the world’s fastest growing economies,” he added.
“Building on recent growth at Khalifa Port, we are future proofing our operations to ensure we can continue to attract the world’s leading operators to use our world-class facilities that will see Capesize vessels, the largest in the cargo industry, come directly into an Abu Dhabi port for the very first time.
As many as 250 workers will be involved in the awarded expansion project of Khalifa Port.
Khalifa Port and the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) continue to play a pivotal role in the diversification of Abu Dhabi’s economy.
ADP’s celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, manages 10 commercial, logistics, community and leisure ports as well as Kizad which serves a range of logistics and manufacturing investors.
