DP World yesterday inaugurated an expansion to Terminal 2 in Jebel Ali ahead of the completion of its third terminal.
The upgrade expands the capacity of the port by an additional 1 million twenty-foot equivalent standard container units to a total of 15 million units per year.
Once Terminal 3 is completed next year, Jebel Ali will be able to handle 19 million units each year.
The extension increases the length of Terminal 2 by 400 metres to 3,000 metres, allowing six ultra-large container ships to dock. The new section was officially opened with the arrival of the 366-metre La Spezia, which ranks as one of the largest container ships afloat.
The upgrades to Jebel Ali were prompted by increasing trade flows in and out of the port and the trend towards larger vessels.
"With our customers now deploying ultra-large container ships, we are working tirelessly to complete the work on container Terminal 3 as planned to cater for even more of these giants," said Mohammed Al Muallem, a senior vice president at DP World.
Jebel Ali has had an average throughput of 1 million units each month over the past two years, according to the operator.
Trade with some countries has risen significantly in recent years. Trade value between Jebel Ali and Japan hit an estimated Dh6 billion last year, Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza) officials said during a trip to the country, in quotes carried by state news agency Wam.
This represented an increase of almost a third over the past four years, said Jafza.
Terminal 3 will have a quay length of 1,830 metres, and a draft of 17 metres. It will make Jebel Ali the only port in the region able to handle 10 ultra-large ships at a time.
