ADT offers direct link to India
Manager and operator of Abu Dhabi’s four main commercial ports, Abu Dhabi Terminals (ADT), has announced that it has reached an agreement with a consortium of shipping companies to start a direct service to link trade between Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port Container Terminal (KPCT) and India.
The consortium comprises of Orient Express Line (OEL), Simatech and X-Press Feeders.
The new service will connect the KPCT, which has been designed to accommodate the largest ships, to key ports on India’s west coast, the Port of Mundra and the Port of Nhava Sheva.
Martijn Van de Linde, CEO, ADT, said: “This service further strengthens the market profile of Khalifa Port Container Terminal, ensuring Abu Dhabi’s importers and exporters, as well as transhipment customers, receive fast and direct connectivity to two of the largest import/export hubs in India.”
He added: “It also cements the growing importance of Khalifa Port Container Terminal as a regional and international shipping hub which offers an ever increasing network of main line and feeder services with direct access to the world’s major commercial centres and, in doing so, reducing the cost of trade for both national and foreign businesses.”
The weekly, fixed service, known as the ‘IGI’ service, links the Arabian Peninsula to India and will add Abu Dhabi to its schedule when its calls at KPCT around 27 February 2013.