DUBAI's DP World's Jebel Ali Port has been named Shipping Port of the Year Award at the annual Supply Chain and Transport Awards gala, the fourth award in six years won by the global terminal operator's flagship facility.

The award is a recognition of Jebel Ali's exceptional management and innovative approach to improve operational efficiencies, with the purpose of providing outstanding services, reported the Khaleej Times.

On receiving the award on behalf of the company, DP World's UAE chief operating officer Mohammed Ali Ahmed said: "This recognises our service excellence as well as the leadership position DP World plays as the gateway for cargo into the GCC, Middle East, Indian subcontinent and Africa. Our investment today will ensure Jebel Ali continues to meet our customer requirements for additional capacity and efficiency improvements."

DP World, UAE region has over the past two years introduced a series of initiatives to boost efficiency including a technology-driven labour management system that cuts time of completing a single operation by up to 30 per cent, advanced gate automation supported by RFID container tracking to enable 20,000 truck movements a day, and 3G connectivity to enable shipping lines to access bay and stowage plan information, helping them cut port call time.

Late last year DP World announced plans to expand capacity to cater to the next generation ultra large containerships at Jebel Ali. When completed, the expansion will raise the port's total capacity to 19 million TEU by 2014, in line with emerging customer demand.