This year – 2012, marks an important milestone. The journey that began at Port Rashid in the early days of the UAE has seen Dubai emerge as a major maritime, logistics and trade hub. The far – sighted vision of His Highness Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum drove the development of Port Rashid. When the Port commenced operations in 1972, it was the largest Sea Port in the Middle East – the region’s first modern container terminal with 2 gantry cranes.
A mere 7 years later, Jebel Ali Port opened as the largest man – made harbour in the world visible to the naked eye from space. Competitors initially, the two ports merged in 1991 to form Dubai Ports Authority (DPA), their throughput crossed 1 million TEU. DP World was formed in 2005 with the integration of DPA and Dubai Ports International (DPI). Today, DP World is the third largest marine terminal operator in the world, operating more than 60 terminals. Jebel Ali remains their flagship and the inspiration for their operations around the world.
Jebel Ali Port is an important growth engine and catalyst to the economic diversification plans of the nation. With world class infrastructure, modern technology and a customer centric approach our operations at Jebel Ali Port are geared to add value to your business and increase efficiencies to your supply chain. We pride in our roots and our terminals in the Port of Jebel Ali, Port Rashid, Hamriya Fujairah act as the region’s premier gateways for container, general cargo, cruise and ferry traffic, handling passengers and cargo with the utmost care.
It is from these humble beginnings, strong foundations and a culture of excellence which has skilled them to be able to handle more than 125 million TEU till date within the UAE.
Port Rashid is today the regional cruise hub. DP World is committed to expand the cruise terminal to be able to handle more passengers and vessels. It has also been recently confirmed that Port Rashid will become the permanent home of the Queen Elizabeth II cruise liner and a maritime museum will be developed. Their history is coming around a full circle – in the beginning they contributed to the development and economic diversification of Dubai and in enhancing the quality of life of the residents.