Khalifa Port: Beach to Busy Terminal in One Year

In just one year, Khalifa Port has gone from a pristine stretch of reclaimed land four kilometers out to sea, to busy hub port serving 17 shipping lines, offering 18 direct services with direct links to more than 40 ports.

Khalifa Port which was delivered on time and under budget, commenced commercial operations on 1 September 2012 and was officially inaugurated by HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, on 12 December 2012.

Owned by ADPC and operated by Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT), the container terminal in Khalifa Port is the very first semi-automated port in the Middle East, a state of the art facility with world class technology.

Khalifa Port was built to accommodate all container traffic from Zayed Port (opened in 1972) and the additional cargo generated by the adjacent Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad). The work to move all container traffic from Zayed Port to the new Khalifa Port was completed three months ahead of schedule and the transition has enabled Zayed Port to focus on bulk cargo, general cargo, RoRo and establishing the port as a world class cruise destination.

Today, Khalifa Port is the gateway to Abu Dhabi, handling all of the container traffic for the Emirate.  With a 16m water depth, Khalifa Port is capable of receiving and handling the largest ships sailing the world’s oceans.

Marking the first anniversary of commercial operations, Mohamed AlShamisi, Acting CEO of ADPC said: “Khalifa Port and Kizad industrial zone are together, the biggest infrastructure project ever undertaken in the emirate of Abu Dhabi."