Chinese container ship becomes 1st visitor to CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal

CSCL Mercury, a Chinese container ship with a capacity of 14,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), on Saturday became the first visitor to the CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal of Khalifa Port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Photo taken on April 20, 2019 shows CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal at Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. [Photo/Xinhua]

The CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal, built and operated by China's COSCO Shipping Ports Limited (CSP) and Abu Dhabi Ports, has a design capacity of 2.5 million TEU and begins with a handling capacity of 1.5 million TEU.

"We are honored to be the first ship to visit the CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal," said Liu Lei, captain of CSCL Mercury.

"I think it is operating efficiently and has high-level management. I saw the containers being unloaded up and down very fast," Liu added.

CSCL Mercury began service in 2011. Its overall length and beam is 366 meters and 51.2 meters respectively.

"Today is very important for us, as it marks the beginning of formal operation of the terminal", said Naser Al Busaeedi, deputy CEO of CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal.

"It takes fewer than one year and a half from construction to operation. That's very fast," he added.

The operation of the CSP Abu Dhabi Terminal, a key project under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, will further increase the capacity of Khalifa Port and make it a competitive shipping hub in the Gulf region, Busaeedi noted.

China is the largest non-oil trading partner of the UAE. In 2017, trade between the two countries increased 15 percent to more than 53 billion U.S. dollars, representing 14.7 percent of the UAE's total foreign trade.