Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the UAE outside oil and gas, and Abu Dhabi Ports have jointly opened a dedicated container freight station facility at Khalifa Port in the UAE capital.

The new container freight station will help improve logistics efficiency and environmental performance by reducing truck movements within Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) by over 290,000 km per year, said a statement from EGA.

The new facility will be used to load metal into containers for transfer onto ships for export. It has been purpose-built by Abu Dhabi Ports close to EGA’s Al Taweelah site to reduce the trucking distance for each consignment by approximately 17 km.

Last year, EGA shipped some 600,000 tonnes of aluminium from Khalifa Port, requiring over 17,000 truck movements from EGA’s site to the quayside, it stated.

Total emissions savings from shortening the journey to waiting ships are expected to be over 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, which is similar to removing some 450 cars from the UAE’s roads, it added.

The new container freight station was opened by Abdulla Kalban, the managing director and chief executive of EGA and Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, the chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Ports, in the presence of senior company officials.

Addressing the gathering, Kalban said: "We are always looking for ways to improve our efficiency, saving costs and protecting the environment. Relatively small changes like this can have a big impact when they are magnified by the scale of EGA’s business."

EGA exports its metal to customers in more than 60 countries around the world, using 20 different shipping lines to ship to over 70 global ports. Its aluminium is the biggest made-in-the-UAE export after oil and gas.

Commenting on the new facility, Captain Al Shamisi said: "At Abu Dhabi Ports, we strive to support our customers’ logistical and operational requirements through careful and forward planning of infrastructure."

"We are making every effort to enhance logistics efficiency and reduce carbon emissions by reducing the distance of trucks transporting aluminum from Emirates International Aluminium to the quayside, which adds value both commercially and environmentally. Our efforts to reduce environmental footprint coincide with the UAE target to reduce carbon emissions," he added.-TradeArabia News Service