Jebel Ali Port, the flagship port of global marine terminal operator DP World, has been voted the “Best Seaport - Middle East” for the 20th year in a row at the prestigious Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards.

Popularly known as AFSCA, the award is decided by key decision makers in the industry who take part in an independently verified nomination round followed by a voting round. It has been organised by one of Asia’s leading transport and logistics newspapers, Cargo News Asia, for 28 consecutive years.

The winners were celebrated at a major ceremony in Shanghai, attended by several hundred leading transport, logistics and supply chain executives from around the region.

The award was received by Kris Chang, managing director, DP World, China, on behalf of DP World, UAE Region.

Mohammed Sharaf, Group chief executive officer, DP World, said: “Jebel Ali is among the leading terminals in our industry, thanks to the outstanding performance of our UAE Region team in Dubai who have made it possible to sustain this award winning performance.   Jebel Ali is now raising the bar again by shortly opening Container Terminal 3 which will be the world’s largest semi-automated facility with fully remote controlled quay cranes and automated yard cranes.”

Last year, Jebel Ali Port handled 13.6 million TEU with 1 million of additional TEU capacity added. Container Terminal 3 (T3) will add a further 4 million TEU capacity, raising total capacity of Jebel Ali to 19 million TEU.

The new terminal’s 1,860 metre long quay is nearly complete and nine brand new mega Ship-to-Shore Quay cranes (STS) are being tested before the start of initial operations in coming weeks.  Some 20 Automated Rail Mounted Gantry (ARMG) cranes are also moving on their rails at the 70 hectare yard.

As one of the finest modern marine terminals in the world, T3 will feature 19 of the largest and most modern quay cranes and 50 ARMG cranes, remotely operated from a sophisticated control room. – TradeArabia News Service