DP World to fuel U.S. Navy ships in Djibouti

DP World to fuel U.S. Navy ships in Djibouti    Despite the outcry in the United States that allowing a company from the United Arab Emirates to manage marine terminals could jeopardize security, the U.S. military continues to place its faith in Dubai Ports World to provide support for its ships.
   DP World has a contract to manage the new refueling station near the Red Sea port of Djibouti, which will serve a variety of customers including the U.S. and French navies. The “USS Vicksburg” was the first vessel DP World hosted there, DP World officials announced this week.
   DP World contributed one-third of the cost of the $100 million Doraleh Oil Terminal, which will be able to load two large vessels simultaneously at the end of a causeway that extends more than one kilometer into the harbor.
   The nearby bulk liquid storage facility is managed by Horizon Terminals, a subsidiary of the Dubai-based Emirates National Oil Corp. It was originally slated to store 120,000 metric tons of petroleum products, chemicals, vegetable oils and liquid petroleum gas, but the U.S. Navy pushed to triple its capacity because of its need for bunker and jet fuel for its fleet and aircraft.
   DP World has a 20-year concession to operate the Djibouti Port and Free Zone and the nation’s airport. Since taking over the container terminal at the port in 2001, container productivity has improved to 20 moves per hour. As demand grows for transshipment services to Africa and the Middle East, DP World says it plans to develop a new deepwater container terminal at Doraleh, 10 kilometers from the existing port.
   The Port of Jebel Ali in Dubai, which is operated by the domestic arm of DP World, is a key support base for the U.S. Navy. About 600 cargo vessels chartered by the military and 56 warships transited the port last year, according to the Defense Department.
   DP World leases a secure piece of property to the Navy to stow and consolidate cargo.
   In Fujairah, a neighboring emirate and the main transshipment point for the U.S. Army’s Afghan operations, DP World unloads trucks from roll on/roll off vessels and containerizes their cargo for shipment to Karachi and on to Afghanistan.