On 10 December, COSCO Shipping Ports and Abu Dhabi Ports inaugurated the CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal at Khalifa Port, the largest Container Freight Station in the Middle East, covering 275,000 square metres. The deepwater, semi-automated container terminal is expected to make Abu Dhabi the regional hub for COSCO’s global network of 36 ports and boost connection of the Emirate to the major trade hubs along the Belt and Road Initiative.
Namely, the semi-automated terminal is the first international greenfield subsidiary of COSCO Shipping Ports, a subsidiary of China COSCO Shipping. CSP has until now invested AED1.1 billion in capital expenditure on construction and machinery at the terminal.
The collaboration with COSCO is a five-year-plan by Abu Dhabi Ports which aspire to empower the maritime field in Abu Dhabi and see economic growth in line with the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030. This could be achieved by increasing regional trade and attracting foreign direct investment. Abu Dhabi Ports has earmarked AED10 billion in investment that will increase ca-pacity at Khalifa Port from the current 5 million TEU to 9.1 million TEU, which also includes boost-ing capacity at Terminal 1 to more than 5 million TEU.
Moreover, the CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal has a design capacity of 2.5 million TEU and will begin with a handling capacity of 1.5 million TEU, with 1200 metres of quay. The water depth of the terminal is 16.5 metres, allowing mega-vessels enter typically carrying in excess of 20,000 TEU.
During the inauguration, the Chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Transport, Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, highlighted that the investment in Abu Dhabi will enable a foreign direct investment in the Emirate.
China is the UAE’s biggest non-oil trade partner. In 2017, bilateral trade between the two countries increased by 15 % to more than US$53 billion, representing 14.7 % of the UAE’s total foreign trade. During the same period the UAE accounted for nearly 30% of total Chinese exports to Arab countries and approximately 22 % of total Arab-China trade. Bilateral trade is expected to increase to US$70 billion a year by 2020.
The new terminal will pave the way companies that aspire to establish, expand or improve their trade by using local manufacturing, warehousing or logistics operations within Abu Dhabi and, through them, service regional, Middle Eastern, African and international markets.
The Deputy Ministry of Ministry of Transport of the PRC, He Jianzhong, addressed that
CSP and Abu Dhabi Ports will continue to cooperate and increase capacity of Abu Dhabi Khalifa Port to make it a container gateway port and an important hub port in the Middle East in the near future, with an aim to better serve trade and economic development, as well as local community and people
Also, the terminal aspires to increase Khalifa Port’s competitiveness and make it a highlight for investment by foreign companie sin the free zone of Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi. The latter embodies 410 square kilometres, has up to now lured more than 200 tenants and AED65 billion (US$17.7 billion) in investment.
So far, 19 Chinese companies have signed lease agreements for land in the demonstration zone established within the Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone in August 2017 by the Chinese Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Company.
Finally, CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal is the result of the 35-year agreement between Abu Dhabi Ports and COSCO SHIPPING Ports whose terminal portfolio covers the five main port regions in Mainland China, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
