As the 18th busiest cargo handling facility in the world, Dubai's Cargo Village can justify its ambition to become a global logistics hub with a major expansion plan to increase handling capacity more than fivefold by the year 2020.
Established in 1991, the cargo village is next to the main building of the airport and operates round the clock with a staff of about 3,000.
It soon outstripped its original capacity of 250,000 tonnes a year, and by 1995 an expansion was necessary to boost capacity to 350,000 tonnes per annum. Another upgrading has led to its present annual handling capacity of 750,000 tonnes.
In line with government plans for Dubai's business expansion, the cargo village is set to undergo a major expansion that will see the building of a 'Cargo Mega Terminal' capable of handling the four million tonnes annually by 2020, says Ali Al Jallaf, cargo village director.
The first phase of expansion is due for completion next year. The second phase will see an upgrading of the existing cargo terminal to semi-automatic status and the construction of the new multi-storey mega cargo terminal. Another new terminal will be constructed, depending upon actual required capacity, in a third phase.
'Dubai has been witnessing remarkable all-round growth. It is our effort not just to sustain this growth but to make sure that we stay abreast, if not ahead, of the best in the world in the coming millennium,' says Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, president of the department of civil aviation and chairman of the Emirates Group.
