Abu Dhabi Ports Company, a master developer and manager of commercial ports and industrial zones in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, has released its traffic figures for 2012, with growth reported across all key traffic categories including: containers, vessel and RORO (roll-on roll-off) movements, and general bulk and cargo.

RORO saw the highest increase in growth, with movements up significantly at 41.4 per cent, from 56,510 units to 79,906 units; marine activity saw a 13.8 per cent increase, up from 26,899 to 30,618 vessel calls, over the previous year.

General bulk and cargo, for all ports operated by ADPC, saw a throughput of 9.4m tonnes, an increase of 8.7 per cent on that handled in 2011.

Depsite the knock-on effects to maritime trade, from the global economy's slowdown in recent years, Abu Dhabi ports saw a 2.5 per cent rise in container handling, up from 767,713 to 787,048 TEUs, for that 12 month period.

Khalifa Port, the 2.5m TEU (initial) capacity, deep-water port, which went operational from 1st September of last year, now handles all container shipments into and out of the emirate.

Despite the upheaval that is obviously created when making such a huge shift of your container shipments from one port to another, the 2012 traffic figures clearly demonstrate that Abu Dhabi ports continue to offer a robust platform for growth, in key shipment areas, said Tony Douglas, CEO, ADPC.

Capt. Mohamed Al Shamisi, Executive Vice President, Ports, ADPC, and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Terminals, added: The transfer of all container traffic to Khalifa Port, from Zayed Port, was achieved in just three months " that's less than half the time that is expected, by industry standards, as these things can typically take from six to 12 months. This, of course, minimised any disruption to the container handling business, into Abu Dhabi, and actually allowed for a maintained and steady growth in this area of the business.

ADPC stated that the company expects the number of containers handled by Khalifa Port to surpass the significant milestone figure of one million TEUs (standard twenty-foot equivalent container unit) per annum, later this year.