Dubai: Building the cargo city of tomorrow

Stellar operational record

On the day the partially built air hub was opened, in 2010, DWC had one A380-compatible runway, 64 remote aircraft stands and a 250,000-tonne capacity cargo facility. Today, two years after the last freighter took off from the storied DXB, DWC has come into its own as a viable regional and international cargo hub.

At the heart of the Middle East economy, DWC attracts its share of attention. Between 2013 and 2014, DWC’s cargo handle increased by more than half a million tonnes per year to reach nearly 760,000 tonnes, and in 2015, the total hit more than 888,000 tonnes. But this was more than a case of simply transferring DXB’s cargo handle to DWC. In 2015, DXB handled more than 2.5 million tonnes – more than it handled before the move of freighters to DWC. In other words, the combined handle of the two Dubai airports in 2015 was almost 900,000 tonnes more than DXB’s handle prior to the transition. In May 2014, after the transition, a new facility increased total cargo capacity at DWC to 1 million tonnes, annually, much of it carried by Emirates.

DB Schenker, Hellmann and many other logistics companies operate out of Dubai Logistics City, which the former describes as “the world’s first multimodal integrated logistics platform.” The location makes sense for freight handlers thanks, in large part, to its proximity to DWC, interconnectivity with DXB, and strategic location near one of the world’s largest ocean container handlers, the Jebel Ali Port.

“You have potential for regional storing facilities because the warehousing facilities are close by, not only for air, but for seafreight as well. This makes it possible to consolidate easily, so there are no long delays because cargo can be brought in via sea or air, and then directly stored in between the facilities,” Grebener said. He added that, “at the same time, Dubai South is a regional hub, not only shipping to the local market in Dubai or the UAE in general, but also as a hub to the entire Middle East, if not North Africa and Asia, if you want.”

The major carriers are coming to DWC, as a result. In 2015, Emirates SkyCargo inaugurated Emirates SkyCentral, the carrier’s dedicated cargo terminal for freighter operations at DWC. “Emirates SkyCentral has an operational capacity of more than 700,000 tonnes per annum,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates’ divisional senior vice president for cargo. By December 2015, he added, Emirates SkyCentral’s logistics had already enabled it to transport more than 35,000 tonnes of temperature-sensitive products. Shipments can go from bellyholds in DXB to freighters in DWC in five hours, thanks to SkyCargo’s infrastructure of warehouses and trucks traveling along a bonded virtual corridor.

Emirates is not alone. Gerrit Kloezeman, managing director of Rhenus Logistics’ UAE operations, said that Rhenus is currently investigating the possibility of opening a warehouse at the Logistics City. Once the airport is completed, Kloezeman said he anticipates that production companies will locate at DWC, “which will lower transportation times, because they are located closer to the airport.”

At DB Schenker, operations are also benefitting from conditions that Marwan Abukhurma, regional logistics project manager, describes as very accommodating. “Infrastructure in Dubai is always well built,” he said. “I do not see that with more traffic, things will get congested. They [the relevant authorities] will always seek to find a solution for traffic.”

Schenker’s recently opened facility is a case study in interconnectivity. It’s located in the “freight block,” which the company says is three minutes from both the DWC Airport terminal and, via the Emirates Road, also just 16 minutes from the Jebel Ali Seaport and 47 minutes from DXB.