The UAE's largest authority, DPA, reported a 14 per cent rise in container traffic to 3.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) at the twin ports of Port Rashid and Jebel Ali. Of the total, transhipments accounted for 1.5 million TEUs, with the remainder destined for the local market.

Sharjah ports operator Gulftainer reported that combined throughput at Khorfakkan and Mina Khalid rose by just under 8 per cent. Khorfakkan saw traffic rise by 7.5 per cent to 1.08 million TEUs, while at Mina Khalid throughput was up by 8.1 per cent to 110,310 TEUs.

Fujairah fared less well, witnessing a 30 per cent drop in container traffic to 378,194 TEUs. The Port of Fujairah attributed the sharp drop to a major customer deciding to call directly at Mumbai in preference to putting transhipments through the east coast port.

While container traffic dropped at Fujairah, the port reported a 20 per cent increase in dry and wet cargo throughput to 19.9 million tonnes. It says that it expects traffic to be boosted this year with the completion of its expansion project, which will allow container vessels of up to 6,000 TEUs to be accommodated at the port (MEED 14:7:00; 16:3:01).