GAC Dubai, a leading provider of shipping, logistics and marine services, has officially inaugurated its new purpose-built contract logistics facility at Dubai South.

The inauguration ceremony was held under the patronage of Khalifa Al Zaffin, executive chairman of Dubai Aviation City Corporation (DACC) & Dubai South, and attended by GAC Group president Bengt Ekstrand, GAC Group vice president for the Middle East Fredrik Nyström, GAC Dubai managing director Ronald Lichtenecker, and Saadi Abdul Rahim Hassan Al Rais, chairman of the Board for GAC Dubai, as well as partners and customers, said a statement from the company.

The Dh100 million ($27 million) facility, which broke ground in December 2016 and began operations in May this year, is the largest and most sophisticated in the company’s history, it said.

It adds to GAC’s existing contract logistics capacity and complements established facilities in the Jebel Ali and Dubai Airport Free Zones, bringing its total capacity to more than 170,000 pallet positions to provide local and regional customers with a single solution to their complex storage, transportation, value added services and documentation requirements, it added.

GAC Group president Bengt Ekstrand said: “GAC was a pioneer when we arrived in Dubai in 1967, and when we opened the region's first distribution centre in 1993. Our latest addition in Dubai South continues that pioneering tradition.”

“I firmly believe this new facility will give our customers the highest standards of service, security and cost-effectiveness in the UAE,” he said.

Neil McMaster, GAC Dubai’s general manager for contract logistics, said: “The new Dubai South contract logistics facility has been designed to meet a higher standard than what is currently available in the market, from operational efficiency and dynamism through to environmental systems.”

“The facility has been extremely well-received, and this is thanks to the dedication and synergy of the team that worked on this project,” he added.

The 45,900 pallet, two-chamber temperature- and humidity-controlled facility is designed to handle a diverse range of product categories including fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), food and beverage, beauty products and dangerous goods (DG) of classes 2, 3, 5.1 and 8.

It also features a 2,400sqm dedicated value-added services (VAS) facility, offering an extensive range of value-added services to meet customers’ requirements and international quality standards.

Since operations started in May, several new contracts have been signed with clients from the travel retail, FMCG and other sectors. Currently, the facility holds 21,500 occupied pallet positions of goods and handles around 60 vehicle movements per day, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service