Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) and Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT) jointly hosted a workshop at the Rocco Forte Hotel, Abu Dhabi, for a large audience of their stakeholders, including members of shipping lines, trucking companies, as well as shipping, clearing and forwarding agents.
The respective roles of ADPC as port authority and ADT as the container terminal operator were clearly explained to the audience. In addition, new procedures relating to the automated gate were provided that will allow trucks to pass through the port facilities allowing smooth receipt or delivery of containers with pre-booked online appointments.
Talking on the sidelines of the workshop sessions, Abdulkareem Al Masabi, Vice President, Khalifa Port Operations, ADPC, said:
“As we have moved from a project based company to a fully operational one at Khalifa Port, and we need to keep our customers and industry partners fully briefed on how to maximise the benefit from the facilities in our brand new port.”
Other topics covered at the one day workshops included procedures for obtaining port passes, licensing arrangements, and outlining the customer services available.
ADT Chief Operating Officer of Khalifa Port Container Terminal, Rex Gundle, provided insights on the post-transition service expectations, from an operator’s perspective and said:
“Khalifa Port Container Terminal, with its highly-advanced systems, equipment and infrastructure provides our clients with a consistent and reliable product that creates new opportunities within their logistics chain.”
He added: “These workshops are a useful tool to obtain our customer’s feedback on our service and to get their ideas on where we can assist each other in developing our product further. We believe in a continuous improvement model and it is with our customer and stakeholder assistance that we can reach this goal.”
Mr. Gundle also suggested that these workshops are vital, for all parties involved in the growth of the port to be comfortable with each other in the exchange of ideas that promote business for Khalifa Port and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Khalifa Port has been operational since 1st September 2012 and was officially inaugurated by the United Arab Emirates President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the 12th December 2012. In the first four month of operations, the port has handled over 250,000 TEUs.
