UAE creates alternative transport corridor to Suez
AD Ports, the UAE's port and logistics operator, has entered into a preliminary agreement with the state-owned company that operates Iraqi ports to create a joint venture. It will develop the economic zone and port of Grand Fau in Basra as part of a megaproject to create a corridor for Asian-European trade bypassing Suez. This was reported by the Hellenic Shipping News portal.
Located at the northern tip of the Persian Gulf near Basra, the port of Grand Fau will become one of the largest in the Middle East, where terminals for transshipment of container, bulk and liquid cargo will emerge.
A year earlier, Turkey and Iraq announced their intention to implement a large- scale project to build a 1,200 km road and railway line, costing $17 billion, from the port of Grand Fau on the Persian Gulf to the Turkish port of Mersin on the Mediterranean Sea to create a transit corridor for cargo services between Asia and Europe.
In December, Baghdad signed a $2.63 billion contract with South Korea's Daewoo Engineering and Construction to complete the first phase of the port. Construction of what is currently the longest breakwater in the world, costing about $1 billion, has already been completed.
By 2028, the new facility plans to handle 36 million tons of container cargo and 22 million tons of dry bulk cargo. In the future, these indicators will increase to 70 million tons and 33 million tons, respectively. The railway connected to the port must transport 80 to 90 pairs of trains daily. Ensuring the safety of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden contributed to the implementation of the project, which creates an alternative route bypassing the Suez Canal, the coasts of Yemen and Somalia.
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