DP World signed an agreement in principle with the Fujairah Ports Authority to develop two new port terminals on the UAE's east coast, structured as a 50 year concession. The projects, Al Rugaylat and Dibba, sit on the Gulf of Oman outside the Strait of Hormuz and are designed to give shippers a bypass route around the chokepoint that carries roughly a fifth of global oil trade.
Al Rugaylat will handle up to 2.5 million TEUs a year along with 1.7 million tonnes of general cargo and 190,000 car equivalent units. The Dibba terminal adds capacity for up to 3.6 million tonnes of general cargo annually. Together the two projects lift DP World's UAE container handling capacity from 19.4 million TEUs to nearly 22 million TEUs.
The new terminals will connect back to Jebel Ali and the Jebel Ali Free Zone through DP World's inland logistics network, allowing cargo to move between the coasts as one integrated system. Construction will run in phases and take 24 to 30 months from the start of work.
Fujairah is already one of the world's largest bunkering hubs and has grown in strategic importance as owners and charterers reassess exposure to Hormuz following months of tanker attacks, sanctions on Iran linked shipping, and Houthi threats against Gulf ports. DP World CEO Yuvraj Narayan said Jebel Ali is running at high utilisation and the Fujairah build gives customers additional capacity and greater flexibility.
For container lines, tanker owners, and cargo owners moving product through the Gulf, an eastern gateway that avoids Hormuz shortens the risk chain on any voyage where the strait can be closed or transit insurance can spike. The scale of the announced capacity, roughly 2.5 million TEUs plus 5.3 million tonnes of general cargo, is large enough to change routing decisions rather than sit as a symbolic hedge.