UAE’s maritime sector in focus at roundtable discussion

Dubai / Emirates Business

Under the patronage of the Federal Transport Authority for Land and Maritime (FTA) and with the presence of HRH Princess Sarah Al Saud, Tactics Maritime Media and Marasi News have successfully arranged “The UAE Maritime Leaders Roundtable Discussion” under the theme of “Leading the UAE towards being a preferable destination for maritime investment”.
The event brought together prominent UAE maritime leaders who discussed the status of the UAE maritime industry and the main obstacles that are facing the existing investors and to what extent these challenges may hinder any potential investment. The roundtable was held with a significant support from Emirates Classification Society “Tasneef” and was sponsored by major maritime entities including Dubai Maritime City, Lloyd’s Register, American Bureau for Shipping, Al Safina Security, and Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla.
H.E Eng.Hessa Al Malek, CEO of Maritime Transport at FTA clarified, “First of all, I’d like to convey special regards from H.E Dr. Abdullah Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development and the Chairman of the Federal Transport Authority for Land and Maritime who appreciates such interactive roundtable discussion that is considered as a platform to communicate effectively with all our partners in the maritime sector. The UAE has maintained its leading position among the most attractive maritime business environment, in addition to climbing to sixth place in 2017 from seventh in 2015 on the list of the future leading maritime capitals. Moreover, the UAE placed 12th in 2017 from 13th in 2015 on the list of maritime finance and law services and progressed from 15th to 14th place in terms of maritime technology. These achievements demonstrate the UAE’s global competitiveness and progress toward the government’s ambitious vision of transforming the UAE into the world’s top maritime centers.”
Al Malek added, “We will prioritize all the major challenges that were addressed from the main maritime key players as we are keen to strengthen the joint efforts between both government and private sectors to achieve a common vision to boost the UAE’s leadership in the maritime sector.”

Attracting better maritime investment opportunities
The UAE has a clear and comprehensive vision to diversify its economy and achieve an optimal balance between its various sectors to ensure sustainability and create new business opportunities. In this regard, H.E Khamis Buamim, Board Member, Group CEO and Managing Director of Gulf Navigation Holding, explained, “We are expecting the growth of non-oil sector to reach 3.1 per cent this year and 3.5 per cent or even more next year. Despite the continuous decrease in oil prices, the national economy has been able to sustain the growth due to a diversified economy. The UAE ability to attract the major ship owners requires careful consideration of the key aspects that these players are looking for in a host country, which is a combination of ease of doing business, favorable and predictable policy framework, availability of maritime technology and levels of openness and information sharing.”
Eng. Ali Al Suwaidi , General Manager of Dubai Maritime City highlighted, “I believe that the most important and successful aspect of this roundtable is to enhance the confidence within the national maritime sector and to prove that it is capable of becoming among the world’s leading sectors. The maritime sector still has tremendous potential and promising opportunities by building clusters that serve the overall economy growth cycle. Doing business in the current era demands innovation, excellent connectivity and infrastructure. The iconic development provides all these and much more for businesses to progress and thrive.”
Effective solutions to boost maritime investment
During the event, maritime leaders emphasized the importance of attracting foreign investments to the UAE maritime sector. Darren Leskoski, President ME, American Bureau of Shipping elaborated, “The UAE is exerting exceptional efforts in order to be ready to cope with the changes that are constantly taking place in the maritime sector, especially in terms of keeping pace with the modern technologies related to shipbuilding, ports, and various maritime infrastructure facilities. Being a classification society, committed to keeping up with the rapid transformation in technology, we consider such events a platform to help us understand the needs of our customers and partners in the maritime sector. Thus, we will be able to guide our team to provide the best solutions that will serve the maritime sector in the UAE. We believe that operators in the UAE maritime cluster are willing to provide the best climate for investments in this sector. ”
On another note, Richard de Devris, Business Development Manager, Lloyd’s Register, commented, “The UAE is known for hosting multiple maritime events and conferences that allow the industry leaders to meet and exchange knowledge and expertise. However, this event intended to bring together decision makers from various maritime sectors in order to come up with effective solutions to efficiently enhance investments in the maritime sector. I think such events are essential to develop the maritime sector in the country and we will support the outcome of this event that I believe will definitely contribute to enhancing the UAE maritime sector. Moreover, I can see that there are promising opportunities ahead of us supported by the increase of oil prices and the improved investments to develop the offshore platforms, as well as to provide appropriate services that will facilitate meeting the new international regulations to reduce ship emissions and sulfur limit in fuel and this will open up opportunities for investments.”
Tarek Saad, Partner, Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla, stated “We are actively working with all parties, governments and private sector in order to develop a new maritime law in the UAE that will have a significant impact on enhancing investments in the maritime sector. We highly depend on the communication between the industry leaders in order to develop a new maritime law. That’s why, we have decided to participate in this event and we would like to extend our appreciation to the organizing team and to the Federal Transport Authority for Land & Maritime for supporting this event. We are confident that investors in the maritime sector will find that the legal system shall protect their business and will be as advanced as the maritime infrastructure in the UAE.”