Etihad Rail has unveiled a nationwide awareness campaign aimed at encouraging logistics providers, manufacturers, and heavy industries to move long-haul freight from road networks to rail.

The initiative arrives as the UAE’s industrial and logistics sectors enter a new growth phase, intensifying pressure on highways, delivery reliability, and operational costs.

Read more-Etihad Rail’s details revealed: 7 new stations announced

The campaign emphasises that rail is not merely an alternative transport option in principle but a practical, scalable, and proven solution already operating across the UAE.

Rail network offers scale and predictability

Etihad Rail’s freight network spans nearly 900 kilometres, directly connecting ports, industrial zones, and logistics hubs. The network is designed to transport bulk and high-volume cargo on fixed schedules along dedicated corridors, offering a level of predictability that road-based logistics increasingly struggles to match.

Each freight train can carry the equivalent of up to 300 heavy trucks, reducing congestion on key routes while improving certainty for manufacturers operating under tight production timelines.

Omar Alsebeyi, Acting CEO at Etihad Rail Freight, said: “For heavy industry, logistics is no longer just about speed, it’s also increasingly about certainty. Delays, congestion, and volatility carry real costs. Rail addresses those challenges at their root by offering scale, reliability, and predictability, day in and day out.”

Optimising costs and production planning

The campaign highlights rail freight’s potential to stabilize transport costs, reduce inventory buffers, and enable manufacturers to plan production with greater confidence. Etihad Rail stressed that the initiative does not aim to replace road freight but to rebalance the logistics system for greater efficiency.

“Road freight remains essential, particularly for last-mile delivery,” added Alsebeyi. “Rail removes long-haul and bulk movements from roads, easing congestion and freeing trucks to operate where they are most effective. It’s about making the entire system work better.”

Industry-focused awareness campaign

The campaign will be rolled out across trade media, industry forums, and digital platforms. It will feature case studies showcasing how rail integration has improved efficiency for companies in sectors such as construction materials, petrochemicals, metals, and containerised cargo.

The initiative also aligns with broader national priorities, including strengthening supply-chain resilience, enhancing industrial competitiveness, and future-proofing logistics infrastructure as trade volumes continue to rise.

“The UAE has invested in a national rail network designed to support growth for decades, not quarters,” said Alsebeyi. “This campaign ensures industry fully benefits from that investment. Rail freight is operational, reliable, and ready to scale. Now is the time to use it and reap the benefits.”

Strategic advantage for early adopters

As industrial output continues to expand, Etihad Rail expects early adopters of rail freight to gain a strategic advantage, including lower long-term costs, improved reliability, and the ability to scale operations without adding strain to already-busy road networks.

By offering a predictable, high-capacity alternative to road transport, Etihad Rail is positioning the UAE’s freight sector for sustainable growth while tackling one of the nation’s most pressing logistical challenges: congestion.

US investigators are examining whether specific crypto platforms have facilitated sanctions evasion by Iranian officials, a blockchain researcher told Reuters, as cryptocurrency activity booms in the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s crypto transaction volumes hit an estimated $8-10bn last year as both state-linked groups and retail investors have turned to digital currencies, according to estimates from TRM Labs and Chainalysis.

The US Treasury is now looking at whether crypto platforms have enabled state-linked players to evade sanctions when seeking to move money abroad, access hard currency or procure goods, said Ari Redbord, global head of policy at US-based blockchain analysis company TRM Labs, who said he had direct knowledge of the Treasury’s concerns.

A Treasury spokesperson referred Reuters to a September statement announcing measures the department was taking against “shadow banking” networks supporting Iran, including those it said used crypto to skirt sanctions.

Redbord did not identify any cryptocurrency platforms being probed or where they were based.

TRM Labs estimates there was around $10bn of crypto activity in Iran last year, against $11.4bn in 2024. Chainalysis, another US-based blockchain analysis company, said Iranian wallets received a record $7.8bn in 2025, up from $7.4bn in 2024 and $3.17bn in 2023.

Iran’s mission at the United Nations did not respond to emailed requests for comment for this article.

Cryptocurrencies remain a small part of the global financial system, but their use is expected to grow in emerging markets with weak currencies, the International Monetary Fund has said. Iran has been effectively severed from the dollar-based system and has seen a rapid devaluation of its rial currency. Oil revenues remain by far its largest source of foreign currency, hitting $53bn in 2023, according to the latest estimates from the US government’s Energy Information Administration.

“The harder one squeezes the Iranian economy, the more one better be ready to deal with the consequences, one of which is the expanding use of crypto,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Finance and Security at UK think-tank the Royal United Services Institute.

Iran has also faced a series of crises over the past year, including the 12-day war with Israel as well as American strikes on its nuclear facilities. A recent wave of anti-government protests and the Tehran government’s deadly crackdown have prompted threats of further military action from US President Donald Trump as well as fresh scrutiny of Iranian finances.

Washington imposed new sanctions on Iran last month, including on 18 people it accused of being part of shadow-banking networks of sanctioned Iranian financial institutions.

Iran’s revolutionary guards

Crypto wallet addresses are pseudonymous – recorded on the blockchain as a string of letters and numbers – making it difficult to establish who is behind transactions or their locations. Researchers estimate crypto activity using data sources including web traffic and wallet addresses identified by countries including the US and Israel as linked to sanctioned entities.

Gaining a complete picture of Iran’s crypto usage is near-impossible, the researchers said. Indeed, estimates of the split between state-linked and retail volumes vary significantly.

Chainalysis estimates that 50 per cent of Iran’s volumes last year were linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a powerful political, military and economic force with close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

By contrast, TRM Labs estimates that 95 per cent of Iran-linked flows come from retail investors. Still, the company says it has identified more than 5,000 addresses it labels as IRGC-linked and estimates the Guards have moved $3bn worth of crypto since 2023.

British blockchain research company Elliptic said last month that the Central Bank of Iran, which like the IRGC is subject to international economic sanctions, had acquired at least $507m worth of the stablecoin USDT in 2025, in what Elliptic called a “sophisticated strategy to bypass the global banking system.”

Iran’s UN mission didn’t respond to questions on the IRGC’s or the central bank’s alleged use of crypto. Reuters couldn’t independently verify the findings of Elliptic and other blockchain researchers.

Tether, which issues USDT, said it maintained a “zero-tolerance policy toward the criminal use of our tokens”, and that it worked closely with law enforcement agencies to identify and freeze assets linked to illegal activity.

Andrew Fierman, Chainalysis’ head of national security intelligence, said that when a crypto wallet is publicly identified or sanctioned, owners can easily create new ones to use instead, complicating the task of US authorities.

RUSI’s Keatinge said the scale of the challenge facing US authorities was enormous.

“It requires significant resources to do the kind of blockchain tracing and so on, to issue the sanctions,” he added. “It’s the ultimate high-speed whack-a-mole game.”

15 million crypto users in Iran

Ordinary Iranians, meanwhile, may be buying crypto because of the rapid rial devaluation, the researchers told Reuters. Crypto activity rose sharply during bouts of social and geopolitical instability last year including during the recent protests, until the government blocked the internet on January 8, the analysts added, citing activity on Iranian exchanges.

Nobitex, the largest of Iran’s crypto exchanges, told Reuters that about 15 million people in Iran had some exposure or used crypto assets, based on industry estimates. It said it had 11 million customers, with the majority of activity from retail and smaller investors. “For many users, crypto primarily functions as a store of value in response to the continued depreciation of the local currency,“ Nobitex said in an email.

Iranians can move money off local exchanges to wallets and platforms located elsewhere, blockchain researchers and finance experts say.

Singapore-based blockchain researchers Nansen said some Iranians had pulled funds from Nobitex in 2025, with balances of major cryptocurrencies having declined sharply from a mid-year peak. Nobitex was hit by an anti-Iranian hacking group in June last year.

Nansen said it had identified hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crypto which were transferred from Nobitex to international cryptocurrency exchanges.

“These funds did not simply leave crypto. Instead, they increasingly moved to international exchanges,” said analyst Nicolai Sondergaard. “Overall, the data suggests crypto in Iran acted as a slow, structural exit route throughout 2025.”

Nobitex said some customers may use crypto to transfer funds internationally, but it did not track the destination or purpose of such transactions. The exchange said it safeguards user assets by robust monitoring of activity, including checks to identify potentially suspicious transactions. It said it was understandable that some users may have had concerns regarding asset safety following the June hack.

“In many cases, users transfer assets to self-custodied wallets (not other international exchanges) as a precautionary measure, allowing them time to assess the situation and determine whether to redeposit funds at a later time,” Nobitex added.

Read: Oil slumps nearly 5% as Trump signals Iran de-escalation

Dubai’s super-fast underground transport dream is edging closer to reality.

Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai on Tuesday, Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said construction on the Musk-backed Dubai Loop project would begin “immediately”, according to a news flash from Reuters.

Developed with The Boring Company, the project will deliver an underground transport network spanning 24 kilometres across the city, at a total cost of nearly Dhs2.5bn.

“The project covers 24 kilometres in Dubai, with a total cost of nearly Dhs2.5bn,” Al Tayer said.

“The first phase will start immediately, with Dhs600m allocated to six kilometres,” he added.

According to Al Tayer, the initial phase is expected to be completed within two years.

The Dubai Loop is designed as an underground electric transport system aimed at easing congestion along some of the emirate’s busiest corridors. The project is being developed with the tunnelling company founded by Elon Musk, which specialises in underground transport infrastructure.

The announcement revives Dubai’s long-standing ambition to pioneer ultra-fast transport solutions, following nearly a decade of experimentation with hyperloop-style concepts.

In 2016, Dubai positioned itself as one of the earliest global advocates of hyperloop technology, unveiling proposals that promised passenger speeds of more than 1,000 km/h. Early studies included a proposed Dubai–Abu Dhabi route that aimed to cut travel time between the two cities to around 12 minutes.

Those plans, however, didn’t move beyond pilot and feasibility stages. Hyperloop One, one of the most prominent companies involved in early projects, ceased operations in 2023, effectively ending the first wave of global hyperloop experimentation.

Unlike those earlier proposals, Dubai Loop adopts a more incremental and deliverable model. Rather than vacuum-sealed tubes and extreme speeds, the system relies on underground tunnels transporting electric vehicles — a concept already deployed by The Boring Company in Las Vegas.

If completed as planned, Dubai Loop would mark the first international deployment of Musk’s Loop system outside the US and one of the clearest signs yet of Dubai translating long-held transport ambition into concrete infrastructure.

Turner & Townsend, the global professional services firm, has been appointed by RAK Central to deliver project management services for a 3.1 million sq ft mixed-use development in Ras Al Khaimah.

Designed as a large-scale work-live-play destination, RAK Central will feature commercial offices, including master developer Marjan’s new headquarters, alongside retail, entertainment and food and beverage offerings. The development will also include three business hotels with more than 1,000 keys, approximately 4,000 residential apartments, and extensive public realm areas spread across five interconnected buildings. The project is scheduled to open in 2027.

The development aligns with Ras Al Khaimah’s Vision 2030, which aims to attract more than three million visitors annually and position the emirate as a regional leader in sustainable tourism. RAK Central is targeting LEED Gold certification, supported by the use of local supply chains, advanced green building strategies and sustainability measures including energy-efficient systems, smart water management and environmentally responsible landscaping throughout both design and construction.

Advanced digital technologies will play a central role in the project’s delivery, with artificial intelligence, BIM modelling and BIM-enabled construction techniques embedded across the full design and construction lifecycle to support efficiency and precision.

Michael McDaid, project director, Turner & Townsend in the United Arab Emirates, said: “We will provide project management services for the construction delivery of RAK Central, covering five towers with podiums and below ground parking, extending our existing portfolio in RAK mirroring our commitment to the Northern Emirate.

“Upon completion, RAK Central will become a destination of choice for both world-renowned companies and the local community to thrive. We look forward to playing our part to make this vision a reality.”

NRTC Group, one of the UAE’s leading fresh-produce conglomerates, is pioneering a new era in food supply chain efficiency and sustainability with the launch of Mazraati, a first-of-its-kind farm-to-fork digital platform.

Unveiled at Gulfood Green 2026, Mazraati is designed to improve traceability, quality control, logistics coordination, and transparency across the nation’s agri-food supply chain.

The platform, digitally powered by Etheral IT Solutions LLC, represents a strategic shift in NRTC’s operations and underscores its commitment to supporting national food-security objectives. By integrating farmers, pack houses, logistics providers, warehouses, and buyers into a single digital ecosystem, Mazraati addresses the long-standing inefficiencies that have historically caused quality losses and food wastage at multiple stages of the supply chain.

Read more-Khuloud Hassan Al Nowais on how the UAE’s turned food security into a national mission

“For decades, the farm-to-fork model in the region has been constrained by fragmented systems and limited traceability,” said Mohammed Alrifai, group CEO of NRTC. “Mazraati directly addresses these gaps by digitising the entire journey of produce, starting at the farm and extending through logistics, quality control, and delivery.”

AI-driven quality and data-backed decisions

Mazraati’s technology stack combines AI, QR-based verification, and real-time logistics tracking to create an unprecedented level of visibility. Vehicle routing, crate movement, temperature monitoring, and packhouse receiving are fully automated, while AI-supported quality grading is applied at inspection points.

Transit losses are digitally recorded, and stakeholders, from farmers to buyers, gain instant access to actionable data. Farmers can track quantities supplied, quality grades, and QC outcomes, while logistics partners benefit from route optimization and crate-level traceability. Buyers gain early visibility into stock quality and quantity, enabling better demand planning and pricing decisions.

“This is not simply a technology rollout. It represents a structural shift in how food moves from farm to fork in the UAE,” added Alrifai. “Mazraati strengthens resilience, reduces waste, and delivers long-term value across the agri-food ecosystem.”

Bhaskaran Srinivasan, co-founder and CEO at Etheral IT Solutions, described Mazraati as “a living digital backbone for the agri-food supply chain,” highlighting its AI-driven quality verification, real-time logistics intelligence, and end-to-end data capture that eliminates blind spots in traditional systems.

Scaling local farming and reducing waste

NRTC is leveraging its growing local-farm network, which includes recent acquisitions like Ripe Organic, Mahsool, and other UAE-based production initiatives, to onboard more than 260 farmers by 2027. This expansion aligns with a broader strategy of increasing locally grown produce from 20,000 tons delivered this year to over 100,000 tons within the next three years.

“Our focus is on local production, particularly vegetables like lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes, while diversifying into sweet melon, papaya, and other crops,” Alrifai said. “Unlike in the past, where farmers grew based on experience, we now guide them using actual market demand and consumer preferences.”

A strong on-the-ground team ensures the harvest-to-warehouse process adheres to stringent SOPs, maintaining freshness and quality. Advanced infrastructure, digital monitoring, and AI-driven tools support this seamless operation.

Traceability at the consumer level

Mazraati’s digital model extends all the way to consumers. Each product carries a QR code, enabling buyers to trace produce back to the exact farm of origin. Farmers gain insights into ESG-related metrics, including pesticide usage, water consumption, and labor inputs, creating a fully transparent and sustainable system.

Products that do not meet retail appearance standards but remain high quality are redirected to processing facilities for juices, smoothies, sauces, and other value-added products. This approach prevents waste while maximizing the utilization of every harvested item.

“Consumers naturally prefer visually perfect products, but we ensure imperfect-looking yet high-quality produce is fully utilised,” Alrifai explained. “This creates a complete food ecosystem where farming, retail, processing, and sustainability work together.”

NRTC’s CSR push: Educating the next generation

Beyond technology, NRTC is addressing household-level food waste through education. Partnering with Nemma, the group runs programs in schools to teach students how to reduce food loss. In line with this effort, NRTC has launched the NRTC Interschool Innovation Challenge (NIIC), a UAE-wide initiative encouraging students to develop practical solutions to reduce household food waste.

The first edition, set to kick off in September 2026, aligns with the UAE’s National Food Loss & Waste Reduction targets for 2030. NIIC empowers youth to promote a culture of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, reinforcing NRTC’s position as a thought leader in youth engagement and ESG impact.

“NIIC is a permanent, NRTC-owned platform,” Alrifai said. “It reinforces our evolution from a leading fresh-produce company into a driver of awareness, education, and behavioral change.”

Strategic partnerships: The Mahsool collaboration

At Gulfood Green 2026, NRTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mahsool, the UAE’s flagship local farming initiative endorsed by His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The collaboration aims to advance domestic food production and strengthen national food security.

Under the partnership, NRTC’s commercial arm will drive market access, distribution, and execution, while Mahsool-supported farms focus on high-tech, sustainable crop production.

Currently, 100 farms are operational, producing 22 crop varieties including cherry tomatoes, capsicum, eggplant, and chili peppers using non-chemical, climate-controlled methods. Expansion plans target 200 farms by 2027 and a five-year roadmap for 400 farms, including mushroom production.

At the heart of this ecosystem is a state-of-the-art pack house with a 300-tonne daily handling capacity, ensuring efficient grading and distribution of fresh produce to domestic markets. Production forecasts estimate 20,000 tonnes of locally grown produce in 2026, significantly reducing reliance on imports while maintaining consistent quality.

“This MoU reflects our long-term commitment to building a resilient, future-ready agri-food ecosystem for the UAE,” Alrifai said. “By linking advanced local farming with strong market access, we translate national food security ambitions into scalable, commercially viable outcomes.”

A 360-degree food ecosystem

NRTC’s strategy represents a 360-degree approach to the UAE’s agri-food supply chain. By combining digital traceability, AI-powered quality control, local production, and educational initiatives, the group is creating a fully integrated food ecosystem.

• Farmers gain market visibility, operational support, and fair compensation.
• Logistics providers enjoy automated planning, monitoring, and loss prevention.
• Buyers benefit from predictable quality, stock insights, and efficient procurement.
• Consumers gain traceability, transparency, and access to high-quality produce.
• The environment benefits from reduced food waste and sustainable sourcing practices.

The group is also expanding into organic produce and niche categories, further strengthening its ecosystem and reinforcing its sustainability credentials.

“This is more than growth or technology; it’s a paradigm shift in how fresh food moves from farm to fork in the UAE,” Alrifai concluded. “With Mazraati, Mahsool, and NIIC, we are setting a new benchmark for efficiency, transparency, and sustainability across the agri-food value chain.”