Military

Mina Zayed
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
24°31'N 54°23'E

The island port city of Abu Dhabi is the center of finance, transport, and communications for the rich petroleum-producing United Arab Emirates. Mina Zayed [Port Zayed, or Abu Dhabi Port] is the sea port of Abu Dhabi. Mina Zayed comprises 21 berths in a sheltered artificial deep-water port, and handles about 900,000 tons of cargo handled annually. Established in 1972, Mina Zayed is a commercial hub for vessels and a fishing port for the many wooden dhows, which still set out each day. Mina Zyed is located centrally on the Gulf coast of United Arab Emirates.

Mina Zayed is committed to maintaining its status as a modern international port, which keeps abreast with the country's overall development and growth. The motto adopted by Mina Zayed is illustrative. "Do not ask us what facilities we have, Tell us what facilities you need". The construction of this Port started in 1968 in fulfillment of the directives of His Highness Sh. Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, in his capacity as ruler of Abu Dhabi Emirate at that time. Traders and businessmen in the Abu Dhabi Emirate had seen difficult days before the construction of Port Zayed. Finding it impossible to enter the shallow waters of the Abu Dhabi beach, the cargo ships used to dock about 8km away from the coast and unload their shipments on barges and small dhows which then transported the cargo to the beach. The Port was officially inaugurated by His Highness Sh. Zayed in 1972 in his capacity as the President of the UAE.

Port Zayed's facilities are contained in a total area of 510 hectares, including 41 hectares occupied by the Container Terminals which can accommodate around 15,000 TEUS. Within the ports boundaries are over a million square meters of paved storage yard, over a hundred thousand square meters of climatically - controlled storage sheds and ample cold storage. There are 21 berths for handling all kinds of general cargo including bulk cargo, ro-ro, project cargo, reefer cargo and petroleum products. The Port has 17 general cargo berths, with a total quay length of 3,380 m and a quayside depth varying form 9m to 15m. Berth nos 1 to 9 and 14 to 19 are of 13m draft. Berths 10, 11, 12 and 13 are shallow at 6.0m. The container terminal has 4 berths and total length of 800m. Additional container berths are planned as well as the Saadiyat Free Trade Zone to be built on Saadiyat Island.

The Seaport's management is in its $765 million two phase development programme which incorporates the acquisition of new container handling equipment, the building of new berths and eventually the construction of a second container terminal. A second container terminal with four ship-to-shore cranes is being planned adjacent to the existing facility, on the eastern side of the port.

Port Zayed provides total storage facilities for customers to plan and execute their regional distribution strategies using the storage complex as a base for operation. These facilities are in an area adjacent to the terminal and were developed in the mid 1980's for the purpose of activating the cargo throughput and to encourage businessmen to avail of the world-class facilities offered by Port Zayed. The storage facilities allow for rapid response to market and consumer demands, at the same time enabling traders to keep overheads at competitive levels and shipping cost to a minimum.

The storage facilities are backed up by over one million sq. meters of paved storage and 139,000m of warehouses, including a 5,250 sq. m shed for sea-air cargo. There is also ample space for breakbulk cargoes, timber and machinery handling as well as a 150,000-tonne grain silo. Reefer cargo is catered for by two cold stores 5,000 and 15,000-tonne capacity. Mina Zayed's cold store facility is of immense help to the importers and exporters of cold and chilled cargo. The 15000 ton complex consists of 24 individually temperature-controlled rooms with a total storage capacity of 5,500 cubic meters in an area of 2795 sq. m. A professional stevedoring complex takes care of loading and off-loading operations through a well-trained labour force which accomplishes all operations smoothly utilizing the equipment provided by the Port's Traffic Department.

Ship owners and operators calling at Mina Zayed have an added incentive in the form of saving substantial amount of money from the competitive rates offered for bunker fuel, which is supplied by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) in co-ordination with the Port.

To complement its growing operations at Mina Zayed, the Seaport Authority is also focusing its attention on the development of project and general cargo facilities in the new port at Musaffah. A special terminal, which can handle 300,000 to 500,000 tonnees of cargo is expected to be handed over to Mina Zayed by the contractors on 5/9/2002 and be operational by early 2003.

Alert 24 hours a day, the Harbor Masters Office controls all marine traffic along the approach deep channel. The Department is fully computerized and this facilitates swift monitoring of required pilotage information such as the ship's ETA, draft, flag and type of cargo, etc.

The Port's Engineering Department is responsible for the implementation of the tasks related to the development of ports and navigation channels in Abu Dhabi. The development of the Port and the navigation channels is based on a master plan covering the years 2000 to 2013. The long-term development plan is for the years 1993 to 2013. Among the major projects under the development plan which have already been executed or are in the process of being completed by the Department are re-construction of berths, dredging, construction of new buildings and workshops, developing of the main channel of the port, construction of the port of Musaffah, new container terminal, and other facility projects.

As of early August 2002, the Electronic Data Processing Department was implementing a computerization project that includes the world leader Ports Management Software of NAVIS Relational Database Management System. This software is built on Oracle. It covers all operation Departments and provide modern data transfer with customs department as well as shipping agents. Moreover, the project included the implementation of MAXIMO software for Stock Control system, Fixed Assets System, Purchase Order System, Revenue System, Personnel System and Marketing Information System. The Department supervises a local area network. There are more than 150 terminals connected to the EDP main computer which has the advanced software to provide all the information required by the departments. All warehousing operations are also computerized so that customers can have access to any required data. Importers are offered the facility of partial deliveries from stored goods which then can be stored in secured lockers.

The Dhow Harbour in Abu Dhabi, which is located in close proximity to Mina Zayed, has been developed as a Free Port for oil rigs supply vessels, buoys tug boats as well as traditional Arab dhows and launches for prompting active trade between Abu Dhabi and the Gulf countries, the Indian Sub-Continent, East Africa and most parts of the Middle East. All the berths have independent fresh water connections. Three fuel stations owned and administered by ADNOC-Fod provided necessary fuel for the users. The Free Port operates round-the-clock and is fully equipped with all the necessary equipment essential for normal handling of goods in the harbor. Handling equipment, when required, is supplied by the Seaport Authority.