Abu Dhabi Ports, the region’s premier facilitator of logistics, industry, and trade, and France-based CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics today announced the signing of a 35-year concession agreement, according to the company's release.
Under the terms of the agreement, a new terminal will be established in Khalifa Port, the first semi-automated container port in the GCC region, which will be managed by a joint venture owned by CMA CGM’s subsidiary CMA Terminals (with a 70 percent stake) and Abu Dhabi Ports (30 percent stake). The partners are expected to commit approximately AED 570 million (USD 154 million) to the project.
With construction starting in 2021, the new terminal is set to be handed over in 2024 with, in phase 1, an initial quay length of 800 metres and an estimated annual capacity of 1.8 million TEUs. Abu Dhabi Ports will be responsible for developing a wide range of supporting marine works and infrastructure. This includes up to a total of 1,200 metres of quay wall, a 3,800-meter breakwater, full built-out rail platform, and 700,000sqm of terminal yard.
The terminal will provide CMA CGM with a new regional hub and will enable the Group to develop its service offering between Abu Dhabi and South Asia, Western Asia, East Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean as well as the Middle East and the Indian Sub-Continent.
With this major investment, the CMA CGM Group pushes ahead with its global expansion strategy as a leading terminal operator. The Group currently operates 49 port terminals in 27 countries via its subsidiaries CMA Terminals and Terminal Link.
CMA CGM Group is the third of the world’s top-four shipping entities to join forces with Abu Dhabi’s leading facilitator of trade, logistics and industry. The agreement confirms Khalifa Port’s standing as one of only a few major ports in the world providing hubs for three of the world’s top shipping lines, as well as serving as an instrumental part of the global maritime trade connecting markets from east to west.
Present in the UAE for 15 years, the CMA CGM Group employs around 450 people working within 10 offices to provide customers with the best maritime and logistics service solutions. The Group connects the UAE to the world with 13 weekly services to 9 ports.
About Abu Dhabi Ports:
Established in 2006, Abu Dhabi Ports today serves as the region’s premier facilitator of logistics, industry, and trade, as well as a bridge linking Abu Dhabi to the world. Part of ADQ, one of the region’s largest holding companies with a broad portfolio of major enterprises spanning key sectors of Abu Dhabi’s diversified economy, Abu Dhabi Ports’ vertically integrated business approach has proven instrumental in driving the emirate’s economic development over the past decade.
Operating several clusters covering Ports, Industrial Cities & Free Zone, Maritime, Logistics, and Digital, Abu Dhabi Ports’ portfolio comprises 11 ports and terminals in the UAE and Guinea, and more than 550 square kilometres of industrial zones within Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) and ZonesCorp, the largest integrated trade, logistics, and industrial business grouping in the Middle East.
About CMA CGM
The CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics headed up by Rodolphe Saadé, serves over 420 ports on 5 continents around the world. The Group’s fleet of 542 ships carried close to 21 million TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) containers in 2020.
With its CEVA Logistics subsidiary, a world-class logistics provider carrying 400,000 tons of air freight and 2.8 million tons of overland freight every year, and CMA CGM Air Cargo, the CMA CGM Group is constantly innovating to offer its customers end-to-end services delivering performance gains through ground-breaking shipping, overland, air freight and logistics solutions.
The CMA CGM Group is committed to leading the energy transition in shipping and has pioneered the use of alternative fuels. In addition, it has set itself the goal of being carbon-neutral by 2050. This program of continuous improvement has yielded concrete results and reduced the Group’s total CO2 emissions by 4% in 2020.
Via the CMA CGM Foundation, the Group reaches out to thousands of children every year with initiatives championing education for all and equal opportunities. The CMA CGM Foundation also responds to humanitarian crises with emergency relief by harnessing the Group’s shipping and logistics expertise to carry humanitarian supplies to wherever they are needed around the world.
With a network of over 400 offices and 750 warehouses in 160 countries, the Group employs more than 110,000 staff members worldwide, 2,400 of whom are based in Marseille where it has its registered office.