Mina Zayed Port

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The Abu Dhabi Sea ports Authority supervises the operation of Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s main gateway to the outside world and one of the most important seaports in the UAE, in addition to a number of small branch seaports such as the dhow harbour, Mussafah port, Umm al-Nar port and Ras Sadr port.

Mina Zayed, established in 1968 and officially inaugurated in 1972, is located in the northeast section of Abu Dhabi city. Covering an area of 510 hectares it comprises 21 berths with depths ranging from 6 to 15 meters and a total length of 4,375 meters. These berths enable Mina Zayed to receive huge transoceanic commercial vessels and it is also well equipped for vessels of more than 60,000 tones load. Since 1991 efforts have been successful in persuading more than 50 major shipping lines to use Mina Zayed regularly. Now more than 2,000 freight ships berth there each year and more than 4 million tones of cargo is handled annually.

Mina Zayed provides its customers with one of the best equipped stevedoring services in the region providing efficient loading and unloading operations at cost-effective prices. In light of the increasing importance of containers as a safe and economic means of freight a sophisticated and well-equipped container terminal was established in 1982. Covering an area of 41 hectares, the terminal has a storage capacity of 15,000 TEUs at any given time. Four deep water berths are provided with a total length of 931 meters and 15 meters depth. The berths are equipped with five 40-tonne cranes. Mina Zayed's throughput in 1998 increased 34 per cent in container volume and 25 per cent in general cargo over 1997. The port's capacity to hold chilled, cool and frozen products was significantly increased when a 15,000 tone cold store became operational in 1999.

The Seaports Authority has adopted a comprehensive plan for the development of Mina Zayed and other affiliate ports over a 20-year-period from 1993 to 2013 at a total cost of Dh 2.8 billion (US $765 million). This is divided into two stages: the short-term development plan begun in 1993 and continuing to the year 2000 and the long-term plan from 2000 to 2013. Some of the major projects under the 10-year development plan a rereconstruction of berths, dredging, construction of new buildings and workshops and cold storage. Located close to Mina Zayed the dhow harbour has been developed as a free port for dhows which promote business between Abu Dhabi, the Gulf states, East Africa, the Middle East and the subcontinent. The facilities at the free port include 34 berths with 2,000 meters of quayside for offshore supply boats and barges. Meanwhile, Mussafah port is scheduled to be in operation by the end of 1999 easing the growing pressure on Port Zayed. The port development plan includes a new channel and berths for Mussafah.