AD Ports signs 30-year agreement to develop and operate Egypt’s Safaga Port

AD Ports Group, the operator of commercial cities and free zones, signed a 30-year concession settlement with Egypt’s Crimson Sea Ports Authority to develop and function a multi-purpose terminal at Safaga Port to spice up its operations within the nation.

Safaga Port, scheduled to be operational within the second quarter of 2025, would be the first internationally operated port within the Higher Egypt area, AD Ports mentioned in an announcement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Alternate, the place its shares are traded.

AD Ports will make investments as much as Dh734 million ($200 million) in superstructure and gear, buildings, and different actual property amenities and utilities’ networking contained in the concession space, with most of that to be spent in 2024 and 2025, the assertion mentioned.

AD Ports additionally signed agreements for the event of two cement terminals in Al Arish Port and West Port Stated Port, and 4 preliminary pacts for ports positioned in Egypt’s Crimson Sea area and the Mediterranean Sea.

The agreements enable for expanded entry to multipurpose terminals, cruise routes and logistics capabilities in Safaga, Ain Sokhna, Port Stated, Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh and Al Arish, AD Ports mentioned.

“AD Ports Group’s important concession settlement with the Crimson Sea Port Authority for the event of Safaga Port has the potential to play a serious position within the world provide chain, evidencing, as soon as once more, that our partnerships in Egypt drive the development of the group’s portfolio of value-added investments,” mentioned Capt Mohamed Al Shamisi, managing director and group chief govt of AD Ports.

“AD Ports Group is dedicated to not solely enabling new commerce connections, but additionally to offering infrastructure options to spice up tourism to assist the diversification of each our nation’s economies.”

Established in 2006, the AD Ports Group, which owns and operates 10 ports within the UAE, has been increasing its operations all over the world.

In January, the corporate signed a partnership with Kazakhstan’s state power firm KazMunayGas and a preliminary accord with the nation’s Ministry of Business and Infrastructural Growth to co-operate within the improvement of a nationwide marine fleet and coastal infrastructure within the Caspian and Black seas.

It additionally teamed up with Angolan organisations in January to develop and enhance maritime connectivity alongside Africa’s west coast.

Final yr, AD Ports acquired Spain’s built-in logistics platform Noatum for Dh2.5 billion.

In September, AD Ports accomplished the acquisition of a 70 per cent fairness stake in Egypt’s Worldwide Related Cargo Provider for Dh514 million. The deal, introduced in July, accomplished the corporate’s first worldwide acquisition.

AD Ports had first signed an settlement to discover funding alternatives and conduct feasibility research for the Safaga Port in November 2021.

The newest agreements “construct upon the sturdy historic and financial ties between the UAE and Egypt which not too long ago celebrated 50 years of friendship and co-operation”, AD Ports mentioned.

The UAE is Egypt’s second main commerce associate within the area and the primary for overseas direct investments, accounting for 29 per cent of FDI in Egypt.

In the meantime, Egypt is the fifth major buying and selling associate of the UAE by way of non-oil commerce, accounting for 7 per cent of the Emirates’ whole non-oil commerce with Arab international locations.

“As a part of AD Ports Group, our ports cluster is presently concerned in a variety of initiatives all through Egypt, and specifically in Safaga Port,” mentioned Saif Al Mazroui, chief govt of the ports cluster.

“Our experience as facilitators of worldwide commerce, in addition to builders and operators of strategic port infrastructure initiatives, mixed with Safaga Port’s strategic location on the Crimson Sea, signifies that we’re uniquely positioned to ship actions from managing port and logistics operations to offering vacationers with entry to Egypt’s fascinating historical past and tradition. This can lend help to and promote the expansion and diversification of the Egyptian economic system.”

The Safaga terminal will probably be developed over an space of roughly 810,000 sq. metres, AD Ports mentioned.

It should have a quay wall of as much as 1,000 metres with the capability to deal with 5 million tonnes of dry bulk and normal cargo, 1 million tonnes of liquid bulk, 450,000 twenty-foot equal items of containerised cargo, and 50,000 automotive equal items of roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) cargo ships.

There will probably be no forex publicity related to the operations of the port as all income will probably be dollarised, AD Ports mentioned.

In the meantime, the agreements for the event of two cement terminals in Al Arish Port and West Port Stated Port had been signed between AD Ports Group and the Common Authority for the Suez Canal Financial Zone, with a mixed funding of Dh121 million in each terminals.

As per the 15-year agreements, AD Ports Group will assemble silos with a capability of as much as 60,000 tonnes in Al Arish Port and 30,000 tonnes in West Port Stated.

Every terminal will be capable to deal with between 1 million and 1.5 million tonnes yearly.

The terminals, scheduled to be operational within the fourth quarter of this yr, are anticipated to contribute to doubling Egypt’s cement exports.

In the meantime, the preliminary settlement for Sokhna covers the event of three terminals, together with RoRo, cruise and multi-purpose. The settlement was signed between AD Ports and the Common Authority for the Suez Canal Financial Zone.

The 2 entities additionally signed a preliminary settlement for attainable collaboration in transport and infrastructure initiatives, with an preliminary deal with the event of the East Port Stated multi-purpose terminal, in addition to a logistics zone and financial zone.

An preliminary pact for the administration and operation of a cruise terminal within the port metropolis of Hurghada in Egypt was signed between AD Ports and the Crimson Sea Ports Authority.

The 2 additionally signed an preliminary settlement for the event, administration and operation of a cruise terminal in Sharm El Sheikh.