Noura Al Dhaheri, Head of the Digital Cluster, Abu Dhabi Ports & CEO, Maqta Gateway LLC • Interview
Maqta Gateway has been helping to lead digitalization efforts within the Emirate to accelerate economic growth through global trade facilitation.
What has been Maqta Gateway’s response to the pandemic to ensure health and safety, but also continued operations?
Of the many lessons learned over the current crisis, none were as illuminating for our business than the importance of collaboration and data exchange across the logistics value chain. As an organization that has long valued digitalization benefits, we have stepped up our efforts over the past year to increase data sharing across our ports and beyond. In addition to promoting increased international cooperation with major ports in countries such as Spain, Belgium, and China, we are leveraging data to support the UAE government’s food security efforts by identifying alternate sources for essential foods and items. In terms of our expectations for the year ahead, while the entire industry experienced a more subdued performance because of the disruption caused by COVID-19 in 2020, we are optimistic that we will enjoy a much-improved 2021.
How has COVID-19 impacted trade and logistics more broadly, and in particular, what opportunities for technology development and integration has it facilitated?
As a result of the pandemic, many organizations across the global trade and logistics industries have accelerated efforts to digitalize and have begun to explore the potential benefits of cutting-edge tech like artificial intelligence and big data. In fact, according to recently published figures from the International Data Corporation (IDC), large increases in performance are now driving revenue growth across a wide range of industries. There has also been a sharp increase in interest with emerging technologies that can assist in predicting, monitoring, and combating the adverse effects of the current crisis, as well as potential future disruption. Digital applications that enable communication transparency across the entire value chain—blockchain being one—have also become increasingly popular as of late.
How has Maqta Gateway helped Abu Dhabi leverage opportunities to gain a stronger foothold in the trade and logistics space throughout these unprecedented times?
We have evolved from developing and operating a port community system to a much larger platform incorporating sea, land, air, industrial, and free zones, integrating more than 70 government and private entities. Inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in May 2020, the Advanced Trade & Logistics Platform (ATLP) fully integrates government and private trade and logistics players within a single window. Designed to unify payments, services, and provide users with the tools to optimize their resources, the new system will ultimately raise Abu Dhabi’s global competitiveness and attract further investment into the Emirate.
With many experts saying that similar crises of global proportions will continue to occur after the current challenge, how is Maqta Gateway ensuring security and sustainability of Abu Dhabi’s trade ecosystem?
Over the last few years, Maqta Gateway and Abu Dhabi Ports have led digitalization efforts within the Emirate to accelerate economic growth through digital innovation and global trade facilitation. Today, there is a growing understanding across sectors, but particularly within the trade and logistics industries, that one must adopt a digital culture and embrace transparency, collaboration, and efficiency, in order to succeed. Another trend that is prevalent in our industry is the increasing demand for enhanced predictability through the development of shared data platforms and smart analytics. The benefit of this would be two-fold: utilizing predictive analytics to make informed decisions on operations for example, such as predicting port calls, as well as optimizing performance and achieving efficiencies.
What are your strategic priorities and vision as we look ahead into a new era for trade?
In addition to continuing to drive digitalization across all of Abu Dhabi Ports’ business units, we are also supporting the UAE government’s vision for the growth of a sustainable, non-oil economy. To help facilitate the development of the Emirate’s trade and logistics segments, we will continue to expand our solution portfolio, particularly around our single-window offerings and the launch of new marketplaces similar to our MARGO platform. Additionally, we are exploring the development of customizable solutions that can be tailored-made to fit the unique requirements of Abu Dhabi Ports’ stakeholders and customers.