Al Ghurair is the latest UAE based manufacturer to have signed an agreement with Etihad Rail for freight transportation via the UAE National Rail Network
Abu Dhabi, UAE: EtihadRail has signed a partnership agreement with Al Ghurair Iron & Steel (AGIS), the UAE’s largest producer of galvanised and cold rolled flat steel, to use the UAE National Rail Network to transport the steel producer’s product across the nation.
Etihad Rail will be providing efficient and sustainable services by transporting steel products from AGIS’s manufacturing facilities through the rail freight terminal in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD) to Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi and Jebel Ali in Dubai for exports.
Speaking on the agreement, Mohammed Al Marzouqi, Executive Director of Rail Relations Sector at Etihad Rail, commented: “Our company consistently seeks more robust partnerships with a range of entities, delivering services that are integrated directly with clients’ business models and further promote their efficiency. Our agreement with AGIS will facilitate the transport of their products through the UAE National Rail Network, connecting industrial hubs, exports points, and commercial centres. Our rail network drives further cost and time savings, increases operational efficiency in comparison to road-based transport, and enables further market expansion opportunities for our partners at AGIS.
Al Marzouqi added: “The addition of AGIS to our roster of partners demonstrates how Etihad Rail benefits businesses in industries across the UAE. Etihad Rail is looking to bring those benefits to all industries across the UAE, particularly the iron and steel industry. Our customers trust us for our innovative, sustainable, and competitive transport solutions and services. In doing so, they drive our ability to meet the demands of the market and enhance both our existing and future partnerships through enabling extensive freight services.”
Abu Bucker Husain, CEO of Al Ghurair Iron & Steel, said: “We are confident Etihad Rail will provide world class facilities. Our collaboration with the company will immensely boost our continuous endeavour to improve customer satisfaction. Transporting steel coils by rail is both reliable and environmentally friendly, reducing both time and damage caused by road transport. Additionally, rail transport allows for shorter timeframes for import clearance of hot rolled steel coils. With such improvements in our supply chain, galvanised steel coils made in UAE will find a wider customer base.”
AGIS is a leading manufacturer of high-quality steel sheets and galvanised steel, widely used in the UAE’s construction sector. With AGIS’s products being exported to over 40 nations, the producer will leverage Etihad Rail’s facilities at ICAD to reduce transportation costs and time.
Stage Two of the UAE National Rail Network continues to be developed on schedule. Customers will benefit from customised service scheduling solutions. Additionally, the company will deliver specialised wagons which can handle a wide variety of freight.
The agreement signed with AGIS demonstrates Etihad Rail’s sustained role in delivering additional value to the UAE’s and the GCC’s logistics sector through its sustainable rail network. The network will additionally offer long-term support for the UAE’s economic growth, offering innovative, competitive, and reliable transport and freight solutions across the region.
Etihad Rail has successfully concluded a range of agreements with companies in other sectors, including energy and quarrying, but is looking to grow partnership agreements with companies focused in the iron and steel sector.
About Etihad Rail:
Etihad Rail was established in June 2009 under Federal Law No. 2, with the mandate to manage the development, construction and operation of the UAE’s national freight and passenger railway network. The railway network will link the principal centres of population and industry of the UAE, and will form a vital part of the planned railway network across the GCC.
Etihad Rail has successfully completed Stage One of the network. Stage One is fully operational and was delivered on schedule and within budget. The route spans 264 km, transporting granulated sulphur from sources at Shah and Habshan to the export point at Ruwais.
Stage Two links the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia from Fujairah Port to Ghuweifat through Mussafah, Khalifa Port and Jebel Ali Port. Built to international standards, Etihad Rail’s state-of-the-art network will span approximately 1,200 km, acting as a catalyst for economic growth and sustained social development. Upon completion, the railway will redefine logistics and mobility in the region, providing a modern, safe, efficient and sustainable mode of transport that will connect all regions of the UAE to its neighbouring GCC countries.
About AGIS:
Al Ghurair Iron & Steel (AGIS), is a joint venture of the UAE based Saif Al Ghurair Group and the largest Japanese Steel Producer – Nippon Steel Corporation. With a production capacity of 500,000MT per annum, AGIS is one of the largest producers of Galvanised Flat Steel in the GCC and caters to the requirement of majority of the construction and steel fabrication industries in the region. The products of AGIS have local and international quality certifications like the EQM, SASO, ADQM and BIS and are approved for use in most of the projects in the region. Commissioned in 2008, AGIS doubled its production capacity by the addition of its second Continuous Galvanising Line in 2016.
