
PAD Ports Group is celebrating the ninth anniversary of Khalifa Port with the announcement that it has reached its highest-ever position at number 56 in the 2021 Lloyd’s List Top 100 rankings of the world’s container port facilities.
Khalifa Port was one of only a handful of ports in the world to achieve double-digit volume growth over the past year, despite the impact on shipping and the global supply chain due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This impressive volume growth has been driven in part by its standing as a regional hub for some of the world’s top shipping companies, such as Cosco Shipping and MSC. This momentum is set to continue thanks to the recent agreement signed in September this year between AD Ports and CMA CGM to build a new terminal in Khalifa Port with an initial annual capacity of 1.8 million TEU.
Linton Nightingale, Lloyd’s List Deputy Editor, said, “Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi has continued to go from strength to strength and is on the cusp of becoming a top 50 box hub in terms of annual TEU volumes. This is a remarkable achievement given how Khalifa Port has attained this status in such a short timeframe.”
Khalifa Port was developed from a stretch of reclaimed land four kilometres out to sea and is now a major hub serving more than 25 shipping lines with direct links to 70 international destinations. Development continues across all service areas to create a truly multipurpose port, in response to business demand. For general and bulk cargo South Quay is now operational, and great progress has been made on the South Quay Wall, with the majority of landside works completed. In addition, work on Khalifa Port Logistics continues, with infrastructure in place for the new Arabian Chemical Terminals commercial liquid and gas storage facility.
Work is also continuing apace on the dedicated Khalifa Port Etihad Rail Terminal, which will connect the port to the national rail network. In November, Etihad Rail announced that it had completed the construction of 50 % of the new marine rail bridge that will connect Khalifa Port with the UAE rail network.

























