DPA wins two 'best' awards
Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) has been selected for the "Best Seaport" and the "Best Container Operator" awards at the 14th Asian Freight Industry Awards (Afia) for the Middle East Region.
This is the sixth consecutive year DPA has been voted the "Best Seaport in the Middle East" by readers of region's leading multimodal magazine Cargonews Asia, who were asked to select the best service providers in the cargo industry. The prestigious award was received by Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah, assistant managing director of DPA who attended the award ceremony in Singapore.
Winners were selected in different categories, including airlines, airports, seaports, shipping lines, logistics operators, freight forwarders and warehouse operators.
These awards are used by industry professionals to benchmark performance, track year-on-year positions and monitor vote share, with the key factor that only customers vote for their respective service providers.
DPA benefits from a fully-developed infrastructure, the latest information technology and state-of-the-art technical equipment. It has a total of 102 deepwater berths, 25 container gantry cranes covering 11 container terminal berths, 2 additional Super Post Panamax cranes arrive in June of this year. More than 100 shipping lines are served by DPA, making the Emirate one of the leading transshipment centres of the world.
"Most major international lines call at Dubai. There is not a single international destination which cannot be covered by Dubai. From Dubai we can send cargo anywhere in the world," says Bin Thaniah.
According to him, DPA and Dubai's business community have developed a truly symbiotic relationship. The top-class facilities and services of the ports have brought more business to Dubai in general, and the Jebel Ali Free Zone in particular. The growth in business has spurred DPA to further expansion of its facilities.
Last year, DPA reached a handling of 2.84 million TEUs. A total of 11,7111 vessels called at DPA's twin terminal during 1999. This included 5,002 container vessels. The total tonnage rose to 39.7 million tonnes.
Business gains substantially from using a regional redistribution hub, including shorter supply times, quick response to changes in demand; less investment tied up in stockholding and substantial savings on transport.
DPA has helped make regional distribution work effective by offering efficient cargo handling specialised storage facilities, a reliable and efficient in-house trucking operation and fast accurate cargo control systems.
The Free Trade Zone at Jebel Ali terminal has also been instrumental in reinforcing Dubai's distribution capability. Jebel Ali Free Zone is now a base for 1,700 national and multinational manufacturers and distributors.
