AD Ports Group inks 25-year agreement with Crystal Offshore

Image credit: WAM

AD Ports Group has signed a 25 years agreement with Crystal Offshore, a Singaporean one-stop logistics solution provider, as the ports operator continues to further diversify its service offerings at its ports in the UAE and abroad.

Under the agreement, a 20,000 square metre plot of land and an associated quay wall in Khalifa Port will be allocated for Crystal Offshore to construct a base, featuring office facilities and fabrication workshops to provide advanced repairs and refits to jack-up rigs as well as marine and offshore vessels.

“Our partnership with one of the world’s leading solution providers in the marine and offshore industry, will add significant value to Khalifa Port’s customers and greatly expand the numerous services it offers to cater to the wide base of the marine industry,” said Saif Al Mazrouei, CEO of Ports Cluster at AD Ports Group.

“We will continue our drive to further diversify the service offerings in our ports in the UAE and abroad. We aim to achieve this by forging strong partnerships such as the one we are entering into with Crystal Offshore, ensuring that we remain the global port operator of choice for our customers.”

The new shipyard fabrication facility situated within Khalifa Port will cater for drilling rigs and marine assets as well as deep water vessels such as floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) and semi-submersibles.

“We have a strong track record with contractors in the region, and with this long-term partnership, we anticipate significant and fast growth of our market share, greatly assisted by the geographical proximity and excellent infrastructure that Khalifa Port has to offer,” Sujith Sekharan, CEO of Crystal Offshore said, adding that the company shares the vision of AD Ports and look forward to complementing one another through expertise and capabilities.

AD Ports’ growth strategy

AD Ports reported a 73 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in first-quarter revenue, driven by growth across the company’s maritime, economic cities & free zones and ports clusters as well as acquisitions completed in 2022 and Q1 2023.

The shipping and logistics group’s revenue in the first three months of the year reached $495m (Dhs1.81bn) from Dhs1.04 in the same period a year earlier. Its net profit soared 18 per cent YoY to Dhs363m in Q1 2023 compared to Dhs306m a year ago.

AD Ports, which is controlled by state investor ADQ, operates the deepwater Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi along with other ports and logistics parks in the city and the Indian Ocean Fujairah port. In March, the company said it plans to complete its full acquisitions of Noatum, a logistics services provider with a presence in 26 countries across five continents as well as an 80 per cent equity stake in Dubai-based Global Feeder.

AD Ports expects the acquisitions to broaden its global footprint while scaling the company’s logistics and freight forwarding business internationally, turning the Abu Dhabi-based firm into the largest pure feeder operator in the GCC region and the third largest globally by container capacity with close to 100,000 TEUs.

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