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DP World to Build Traders Market at Jebel Ali

Jebel Ali

Published Jul 19, 2018 7:09 PM by The Maritime Executive

DP World has signed an agreement for the joint construction of a new traders market at Jebel Ali Port and Free Zone in Dubai.

The three million square meter development will be undertaken with Zhejiang China Commodities City Group, providing further impetus to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It will be built within the Jebel Ali Free Zone Area located in Jafza South next to the Dubai Expo 2020 site. The market will include clusters of traders from all over the world, offering a wide range of products at one site. They will be divided by sector, ranging from household goods, building materials and food and beverage, to cosmetics and healthcare, energy and power, and engineering and technology.

Apart from promoting the Chinese government’s Belt and Road initiative, the traders market will help Chinese, local and international manufacturers benefit from Dubai’s strategic location
as a business and trade hub, says DP World. It will also enable trade within the Gulf Cooperation Council, Middle East and Africa and Indian Subcontinent regions. Jebel Ali Port and Free Zone provides companies access to a local and regional market of more than two billion people, supplemented by DP World’s global network of 78 marine and inland terminals.

The partnership complements an agreement that was signed earlier this year between DP World and the Zhejiang Seaport Investment and Operation Group (ZPG) for a “Straight-through
Warehouse” project in Yiwu, China – which is the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities – for a warehouse that will hold cargo destined for Dubai and the Middle East.

Both projects aim to boost trade between the UAE and China by offering Chinese businesses DP World’s integrated logistics and trading solutions, including cargo handling at their terminals in China and Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, warehousing facilities in the neighboring Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), one-stop customs clearance facilities and trade licenses. 

China was Dubai’s number one trading partner in 2017, with total trade between them amounting to $48 billion last year.