Abu Dhabi to expand its new Khalifa Port to 1.2 million TEU by 2014
ABU Dhabi Ports Co. plans to expand the capacity of its Khalifa Port in an effort by the Persian Gulf emirate to reduce dependence on oil exports and develop other industries such as aluminium, steel and petrochemicals.
Khalifa Port, which began commercial operations in September, will handle 1.2 million TEU by 2014, according to Tony Douglas, the company's chief executive. Abu Dhabi Ports will need to order six more cranes to realise the port's current capacity of 2.5 million TEU, he said.
The migration of containerships from the 40-year-old Port Zayed to Port Khalifa is scheduled for completion by the end of the year, three months ahead of schedule as the old port has hit its full capacity of 800,000 TEU, Mr Douglas said in an interview with Bloomberg. The additional cranes needed will each cost US$10 million.
Khalifa Port expects it will need to double capacity within five years to five million TEU, according to comments made earlier by Martijn Van de Linde, CEO of operator Abu Dhabi Terminals.
The first phase of the Khalifa Port complex, built on a man-made island outside Abu Dhabi city, has cost AED26.6 billion (US$7.2 billion) and is 25 miles south of Dubai's Jebel Ali (DPW), the world's ninth-biggest container port.
The new port is located next to Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad). By 2030, the zone is expected to contribute 15 per cent of Abu Dhabi's non-oil gross domestic product, and export up to 80 per cent of the goods manufactured there.
"There is no shortage of opportunities" to get financing "for any debt that's required," Mr Douglas said. "There's every chance that in next year we may look at syndicated financing. We have no plans to go the bonds or sukuk [Sharia compliant bond] route."
Abu Dhabi Ports will be reimbursed after transferring some assets it built to various government departments, such as roads and power networks, Mr Douglas added.