The Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) has completed the construction of the 53-kilometre-long Musaffah channel project and handed it over to the ADPC (Abu Dhabi Ports Company).
UPC commissioned the construction of the new Musaffah Channel to provide a safe navigation access channel with increased draught to service the Musaffah Industrial Zone and future ICAD areas.
The Musaffah Channel is located just off the south-western shoreline of Hudayriat Island, immediately to the west of the Musaffah Industrial Area, and leads to the open sea. The project has now replaced the existing access channel to Musaffah Industrial Area, and only smaller ships will be using the "old" channel in the future.
The new channel, developed at an investment of AED1.5 billion (US$400 million) required dredging a volume of 65 million cubic metres. The maximum depth is nine metres and the minimum width is 200 metres. The channel dimensions allow for two-way vessel traffic of large bulk carriers. The UPC engaged the National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC) to undertake the dredging works. NMDC utilised up to seven of their heavy duty cutter suction dredgers (HDCSD) and two trailing suction hopper dredgers (TSHD) to meet the high production rates required to complete the works.