China’s Cosco Shipping Ports adds new services from Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: China’s Cosco Shipping Ports (CSP), which operates out of Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Port, is set to expand its operations with direct weekly services to several ports in Europe and the Subcontinent.

The new operations will be operated by a fleet of eight vessels shipping polymers from Abu Dhabi to Rotterdam, Hamburg, London, Antwerp and Le Harve ports. The returning vessels will carry general and project cargo imports, with ports in Karachi, Nhava Sheva and Mundra among the networks to benefit.

The eight vessels will have a capacity ranging between 10,000 to 13,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit).

A subsidiary of Cosco Shipping, CSP operates a terminal in partnership with Abu Dhabi Ports under a 35-year agreement that was signed in 2018. This was its first overseas greenfield project.

CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal – which has seen over Dh1.1 billion invested to date – includes the largest container freight station in the Middle East, covering 275,000 square metres. It has a design capacity of 2.5 million TEU.

The terminal is become a regional hub for Cosco’s  network of 36 ports, with Abu Dhabi a key part of connecting China’s major trade hubs under its Belt and Road Initiative.