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| Dubai’s twin container
ports of Jebel Ali and Port Rashid rank among
the busiest in the world. |
The first three months of 2003 could hardly be
described as smooth sailing for the Gulf’s
shipping industry. The threat of war in Iraq loomed
large across the region, with hostilities beginning
in mid-March. Against this backdrop, many international
shipping experts warned Dubai, with the busiest
ports in the region, could be receiving a severe
economic blow.
The reality was very different. Despite the negative
industry predictions, Dubai Ports Authority (DPA)
achieved a 24 percent increase in container handling
in the first quarter of 2003. Container throughput
at Dubai’s twin ports of Jebel Ali and Port Rashid
passed the one million mark, touching 1,156,790 TEUs
(ton equivalent units) in the period from January
to March 2003, up from 935,144 TEUs for the same period
last year.
Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, executive chairman of the
Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, says
that their success is a testament to two factors:
the dominant position of Dubai’s ports within
the regional shipping industry, and Dubai’s well-established
resilience in the face of regional and international
crises.
Dubai’s pre-eminence among regional ports was
underlined earlier this year. DPA was awarded the
prestigious ‘Best Seaport in the Middle East’
award for the ninth consecutive year at the 17th Asian
Freight & Supply Chain Industry Awards (AFSCA),
held in Singapore. Together, Jebel Ali and Port Rashid
are the undisputed leaders in container traffic, and
rank among the busiest container ports in the world.
The fact that they were able to weather the storms
of war illustrates the confidence that the international
maritime community has in Dubai’s ability to
stay calm in a crisis. “We have gone through
many crises in this area,” explains Mr. Bin Sulayem.
“The first one was the Iran-Iraq war. We survived
it. We ourselves were shocked – we thought the
market would be affected, but it wasn’t. Then
we had the Kuwaiti crisis, the Afghanistan crisis
and then the Iraqi crisis. All of these have passed
and we came out stronger. More and more people realize
that the UAE and Dubai is a place where people can
do their business, regardless of what is happening
around us. It does not affect us.”
Dubai has been a significant regional port for centuries,
with its Creek waterway forming a natural harbor for
trading vessels operating in the Gulf. The emirate
emerged as a major modern port in the late 1970s,
after Dubai’s then-ruler Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed
al Maktoum made the decision to dredge the Creek to
allow large, modern vessels to access Dubai. Port
Rashid was built at the mouth of the Creek to provide
the modern transshipment facilities demanded by international
shipping lines.
A decade later, Dubai expanded its seaport operations
with the opening of Jebel Ali Port, adjacent to Jebel
Ali Free Zone, which opened in 1985. Since then, Jebel
Ali Port has grown to be the world’s largest
man-made port, and one of only two man-made structures
visible from the moon.
Already established as one of the world’s major
container terminals, Dubai guards against complacency
with a continuous program of expansion. Earlier this
year DPA unveiled the Master Plan – a 1.1 billion
project of rolling improvements that will double Dubai’s
seaport capacity.
“Jebel Ali is the largest man-made port in the
world,” says Mr. Bin Sulayem. “[But it will
soon be the largest outright] because we are expanding
the port 100 percent. We have 15 km (9.3 miles) of
quays and we are adding another 15 km. We are deepening
and widening the channel.”
The Master Plan project is in response to the growth
in business that DPA has witnessed over the last two
years. In 2002 DPA handled 4,194,264 TEUs, up from
3,501,820 TEUs in 2001 – a 20 percent growth
rate.
The first phase of the Master Plan, which will be
completed in 2005, will bring total capacity up to
5.7 million TEUs. Work is well underway on this phase
of the project. As part of the remaining phases of
the Master Plan, up to the year 2020, consulting firms
will be required to handle the development of three
major new terminals: Terminal 2 with a capacity of
2.7 million TEUs, Terminal 3 with a capacity of 4.7
million TEUs, and Terminal 4 with a capacity of 4.7
million TEUs. The master plan will ultimately raise
capacity to 21.7 million TEUs per year. |
