AD Ports begins deliveries on UAE's Fujairah Terminal expansion

Deliveries have begun on the Fujairah Terminal expansion by AD Ports Group to offer container, general cargo and cruise operations at the Port of Fujairah on the UAE's east coast, and they are in use, the AD Ports director of ports commercial said Feb. 1.

The Dirham 1 billion ($272 million) investment adds container capacity of 720,000 twenty-foot equivalent units and general cargo capacity of 1.3 million mt, Julian Skyrme told reporters on the sidelines of the Breakbulk Middle East conference in Dubai. "It's already delivered, it's in use now," he said.

The expansion at Fujairah "will link east-west shipping routes and tap into the business opportunities in emerging trade routes," Skyrme told the conference.

Fujairah Terminals was established in 2017 after a 35-year concession agreement between AD Ports and Fujairah, according to the AD Ports website. Since then, it has remained the only multi-purpose port on the UAE's eastern seaboard. Last year, works were completed to handle further capacity and accommodate vessels with capacities of up to 9,000 TEUs.

Fujairah, with its strategic position outside the volatile Strait of Hormuz, has risen in the last two decades to become the third-largest global bunkering port after Singapore and Rotterdam, and has attracted traders such as Aramco Trading Co. and Vitol. At the free zone, just north of the main city, the landscape between the rugged mountains and the ocean is dominated by rows of tall, cylindrical oil tanks on both sides of the highway. The UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is building underground caverns in Fujairah to store 42 million barrels of oil, with completion set for this year.

A Dirham 1 billion dry bulk export facility to ship from Fujairah's Dibba is set to open later in 2022, possibly providing a boost to bunkering activities, while LNG bunkering may also be introduced, Martijn Heijboer, Port of Fujairah business development manager, had previously told S&P Global Platts.