Abu Dhabi selects new cruise passenger design
His Highness Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Advisor and Vice Chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi, has selected the architectural concept for the new permanent cruise terminal building, which will be built at Zayed Port, Abu Dhabi, ADPC said in a news release.
The winning architectural concept was selected from four competition entries which were presented to HH Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his consideration.
The competition, which was organized by Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC), invited leading architectural practices from around the world to enter their proposals for a new world class permanent terminal building at Zayed Port.
An important element of the competition requires the successful winner to engage two leading Emirati architectural graduates in their project team for the development of the architectural design.
The winning architectural concept was commended because it had given the most thorough consideration to the visitor’s arrival and departure experience, as well as being an attractive building complementing its surroundings and meeting all of the requested requirements.
Zayed Port was inaugurated by the late president and founder of the UAE, HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan more than 40 years ago and has been an important hub for the city ever since. The new cruise terminal building heralds a more glamorous future for this much loved gateway to the city of Abu Dhabi and is an important step in ADPC’s strategy to support the diversification of the economy and the Abu Dhabi Economic Plan 2030.
The winning concept was selected because it placed the ‘customer experience’ at the top of its considerations and had fully examined and incorporated all of the factors which make a world class cruise terminal, a success.
Capt. Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO ADPC commented that: “It supports our ongoing work with cruise lines, with the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority and with representatives from across the Gulf Region to ensure that our business proposition is both unique and utterly compelling.
“We congratulate the designing company on winning the competition and we look forward to working with them to build this important part of our future ambitions for Zayed Port.”
Over the last ten years, Abu Dhabi’s cruise business has grown from virtually nothing to a sizeable business attracting top quality cruise lines from all over the world.
The 2013/2014 cruise season, has been the busiest yet, with 189,709 passengers visiting the city on 75 ships calling at the port. Ten of those ships were making ‘maiden calls’ visiting Abu Dhabi for the very first time.
This success is projected to grow, with more than 220,000 passengers expected on 92 scheduled ship visits in 2014/2015 and by 2019/2020, the expected visitor numbers are anticipated to be 300,000 passengers on 130 ships, calling into the port during the course of the season.