Abu Dhabi Ports has awarded China’s Cosco Shipping Ports a 35-year concession to build and operate a container terminal at Khalifa Port at an investment of $400 million. It will be the second terminal at the port.

“We plan to divert Chinese vessels from Dubai to Abu Dhabi once the terminal is operational,” Raymond Wong, deputy general manager, Cosco Shipping Ports, told Reuters.

The company will set up a joint venture for the project with Abu Dhabi Ports, to be called Cosco Shipping Ports – Abu Dhabi.

Under the agreement, Cosco Shipping will operate the terminal with a draft depth of 18 m, with 1,200 m of quay wall and adjacent land. The first 800 m of the quay length is expected to commence operations in H1 2018 and the latter 400 m  in 2020. Once the expansion areas are occupied, the concession area will span approximately 70 hectares with three berths, which will add 2.4 million TEUs a year to the port’s existing capacity of 2.5 million TEUs.