The Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation (PCFC) has decided to offer discounts on port handling charges for cement shipments coming to Dubai ports as part of a new scheme in collaboration with Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB).

DIB will finance cement imports offering six months’ credit to importers and the move is aimed at encouraging imports into the UAE.
The initiative follows the recent decision by General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister, to exempt cement from tariffs and other equivalent fees for imports.
The Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) has also expressed its commitment to provide facilities and docking facilities for RMC Gulf and other supply companies importing cement into the Gulf.
The DPA’s opening of berths to suppliers such as RMC, means that self-facilitating tankers can dock and distributed thousands of tonnes of cement on a daily basis to developers and ensures that construction continues smoothly for private and commercial projects.
According to the DPA, these berths will increase the traffic of cement into Dubai considerably and the exemption of duty means that cement prices will be competitive with those of local cement suppliers, enabling suppliers to stabilise the market price.
“We are encouraging cement importation into the UAE because the market price at present is high, and as with all fair trade markets we do not want to enforce price restrictions,” says Sultan bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai Ports Authority and chairman for Nakheel. “This agreement will help to develop the local import and export markets and supports the government’s initiatives to increase international trading and investment.”
Local suppliers and manufacturers currently deliver between 90 to 95 per cent of the cement to the UAE market and it is estimated that this volume will continue even with the delivery of foreign imports of cement to the country.
“For us at RMC, it is important to demonstrate that the bulk supply of cement into the UAE is possible. This supply chain is of course crucial at this time of rapid commercial and residential development and expansion in Dubai. We have found that this May alone, there have been up to a 40 per cent shortfall in cement supply from local suppliers on a daily basis. This obviously has a knock-on effect to the large number of developments here,” says Graeme Clack, chief executive for RMC Gulf.
“Since the signing of an agreement with the Dubai Ports Authority, we have successfully delivered three shipments of several thousand tonnes of cement to the UAE from Taiwan and Egypt and are looking to broaden our shipment routes to include India in the future,” he says.