Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Abu Dhabi Ports claim the opening of a new container freight station will reduce truck journeys of EGA’s aluminium within Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) by over 290,000km per year, reducing costs and environmental emissions.

Senior management of both EGA and Abu Dhabi Ports attended an opening ceremony for the new station this week and explained to the media that the facility will be used to load metal into containers for transfer onto ships for export. It has been purpose built by Abu Dhabi Ports close to EGA’s Al Taweelah site to reduce the trucking distance for each consignment by approximately 17km, the organisations said in a statement.

EGA shipped some 600,000 tonnes of aluminium from Khalifa Port, requiring over 17,000 truck movements from EGA’s site to the quayside. Total emissions savings from shortening the journey to waiting ships are expected to be over 2,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, which is similar to removing some 450 cars from the UAE’s roads.

“We are always looking for ways to improve our efficiency, saving costs and protecting the environment. Relatively small changes like this can have a big impact when they are magnified by the scale of EGA’s business,” said EGA’s CEO Abdulla Kalban.

Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, added: “At Abu Dhabi Ports, we strive to support our customers’ logistical and operational requirements through careful and forward planning of infrastructure. We are making every effort to enhance logistics efficiency and reduce carbon emissions by reducing the distance of trucks transporting aluminum from Emirates International Aluminium to the quayside, which adds value both commercially and environmentally. Our efforts to reduce environmental footprint coincide with the UAE target to reduce carbon emissions.”