Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi's main port for more than 40 years, redirects container ships to Khalifa Port near Taweelah, UAE.
Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT) has completed the switch three months ahead of schedule and less than three months after Khalifa Port began commercial operations at the start of September, reports 'The National'.
The last ship to use the container terminal was the Jolly Arancione, a 1,800 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) mixed cargo-container ship operated by the Italian-based Messina Lines,
However, Mina Zayed, which opened in June 1972 making it just six months younger than the UAE, will continue to operate, with the opening of a new cruise liner terminal serving downtown Abu Dhabi, and berths to handle dry bulk cargo, such as grain and steel for infrastructure projects, and roll-on/roll-off trailers.
Last year, Mina Zayed handled about 770,000 TEUs, a 47 per cent increase on the number of containers handled the previous year. But with an initial capacity to handle 2.5 million TEUs annually and the potential to expand to 5 million, Khalifa Port dwarfs Mina Zayed's capacity. It has six of the world's largest ship-to-shore cranes and an automated stacking system that is more advanced than any other port facility in the Middle East. Its deep sea berths can accommodate the largest container vessels.
Source: The National