General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has reviewed the progress made at the megaproject Khalifa Port and Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi, or Kizad, at Taweelah.

This came during an in-depth presentation made at the Crown Prince’s majlis by officials of the Abu Dhabi Ports Company, or ADPC, led by chairman Dr Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive officer Tony Douglas, executive vice-president of Ports Unit Capt Mohammed Al Shamisi and the executive vice-president of the Industrial Zones Unit Khaled Salmeen.

“Two years ago, I was presented with a disciplined 100 Steps Plan devised by the ADPC that would deliver the first phase of the port and adjacent industrial zone at precisely 0700 on September 1, 2012. I am satisfied with the progress made by the ADPC and pleased that the project is on schedule,” Shaikh Mohammed said.

He urged management and teams in charge of the two projects to give Emiratisation a top priority, and strive to help Emirati cadres acquire advanced skills, calling for establishing effective partnership and enhancing constructive investment ties to attract major companies and foreign investments to further develop business in this vital sector.

“It was a great honour for the ADPC to be invited to present a detailed overview of our progress at Khalifa Port and Kizad to Shaikh Mohammed, who, under the directives by the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, gives great support to such projects in order to diversify income sources and serve sustainable development goals,” Dr Al Jaber said.

“We are delivering the first phase of this megaproject on time, on schedule and within budget as we promised. We are confident that the industrial complex, which will grow into one of the largest in the world within 20 years, will make a powerful contribution to the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030. I would like to thank our staff, all stakeholders and partners for their backing, enthusiasm and commitment to this project.”

The ADPC’s presentation to Shaikh Mohammed centred on the company’s remarkable progress in delivering this megaproject on time and within the budget.

Shaikh Mohammed was briefed on the commercial agreements signed across the UAE designed to provide services which will help make the port a success; they include memoranda of understanding with many government entities such as the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, and the Ministry of Environment and Water.

Benefitting from the consistent support of major stakeholders across the entire Abu Dhabi government, and buoyed by the commercial success of its contracts signed not only in the UAE but also internationally, the ADPC is gearing up towards celebrating the milestone opening of the port in less than four weeks time.

The landmark container terminal will then open for business and the Infrastructure for the first phase of the megaproject will be officially completed, and formally handed over at 0700 on September 1.

The semi-automated Khalifa Port Container Terminal is the most technologically advanced in the Mena region, with a radius of 5,000km. Operated by Abu Dhabi Terminals, it features advanced automation that increases efficiencies and predictability while limiting variability so the operator, shipping lines, trucking companies and the importers and exporters can further optimise their logistics processes and avoid unnecessary costs. The infrastructure has been designed to cater for the largest container vessels operating or planned, and includes some of the world s largest ship-to-shore cranes. In the container yard, unmanned automated stacking cranes ensure each container is always optimally positioned for the fastest possible delivery to either ships for loading or to trucks for delivery to their destinations.

The automation also extends to the landside operations where bookings and the clearing process can be done online in advance, doing away with the time consuming manual processes seen today. Combined with automated systems that use optical character recognition and radio frequency identification, this ensures the optimal logistics processes.