hiStoric co-operation

ambitious plans are underway to more than double the container-handling capacity at Khalifa port

Abu Dhabi Ports and COSCO SHIPPING Ports signed an agreement during the ceremony for development of a container freight station, which will be the largest in the region.

It forms part of ambitious plans to more than double the container-handling capacity at Khalifa Port over the next several years.

Abu Dhabi Ports, which operates Khalifa Port, last year signed a 35-year concession agreement with Cosco to operate a new $700 million terminal that will add 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year to the port’s existing capacity of 2.5 million TEUs. Cosco Shipping also has an option to increase the capacity by a further 1.1 million containers.

The move is part of Abu Dhabi’s broader strategy to develop the port as a regional hub and link it with industrial free zones to expand and diversify the economy.

Said Xi Jinping, President of China to the UAE: “Our industrial capacity cooperation has made historic progress. The Khalifa Port Container Terminal Two, a project jointly built and operated by Chinese and UAE companies with a designed annual capacity of 2.4 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent unit), will be up and running in the first quarter of 2019. The China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Zone located in Khalifa Industrial Zone has made good progress. As things stand, 16 enterprises have signed letters of intent with a committed investment of 6.4 billion yuan ($956 million).”

COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (Stock Code: 1199), is a leading ports operator in the world, its terminals portfolio covers the five main port regions in Mainland China, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Mediterranean. As at December 31, 2017, COSCO SHIPPING Ports operated and managed 269 berths at 35 ports worldwide, of which 179 were for containers, with a total annual handling capacity of approximately 103 million TEU. COSCO SHIPPING Ports has adopted “The Ports For ALL” as its mission and is working towards building a global terminal network with controlling stake that offers linkage effects on costs, services and synergies, a synergistic platform that offers mutual benefits to all in the shipping industry, connecting global routes and becoming truly “the ports for all people”. COSCO SHIPPING Ports’ controlling shareholder is COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. (Stock Code: 1919), whose parent company, China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, is the largest integrated shipping enterprises.