A DP World official has announced plans to upgrade facilities at the under-utilized port of Fujairah, news reports said. The upgrading project is primarily aimed at advancing the port's capability of handling larger container ships.
“We are looking to upgrade Fujairah. We are looking at the possibilities of making Fujairah capable of receiving big ships,” said DP World UAE managing director Mohammad Al Muallem.
According to Al Muallem, specialist studies are currently underway for expansion plans scheduled to commence no later than 2010.
DP World had been awarded a 30-year concession to manage, develop and operate the container terminal in 2005.
In 2005 the terminal had a container throughput of 202,156 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), well short of its 1.6 million TEUs per year capacity.
“Even if the capacity is there, the port is not able to receive big ships because the port was built a long time ago,” said Al Muallem.
Modern mega-sized vessels cannot enter the port's harbour as its depth is only 15 metres.
Al Muallem said that dredging works will be undertaken to increase the draft to about 17 metres.
“We are looking to upgrade Fujairah. We are looking at the possibilities of making Fujairah capable of receiving big ships,” said DP World UAE managing director Mohammad Al Muallem.
According to Al Muallem, specialist studies are currently underway for expansion plans scheduled to commence no later than 2010.
DP World had been awarded a 30-year concession to manage, develop and operate the container terminal in 2005.
In 2005 the terminal had a container throughput of 202,156 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), well short of its 1.6 million TEUs per year capacity.
“Even if the capacity is there, the port is not able to receive big ships because the port was built a long time ago,” said Al Muallem.
Modern mega-sized vessels cannot enter the port's harbour as its depth is only 15 metres.
Al Muallem said that dredging works will be undertaken to increase the draft to about 17 metres.