TOTAL tonnage handled by Dubai's twin ports of Jebel Ali and Port Rashid was up 12 per cent last year compared with 24.15 million metric tonnes in 1992.
The main rise in the tonnage came from frozen food items which increased by 44 per cent; bulk cargo, 39 per cent; and bagged cargo, 22 per cent.
Container tonnage, currently about 61 per cent of Dubai Port Authority's (DPA) throughput, increased by 20 per cent last year.
''The growth in local as well as transshipment business reconfirms Dubai's position as the commercial hub of the region,'' DPA chairman and managing director Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said.
He added DPA was continuing to upgrade its facilities to provide shipping lines with faster turnaround times and agents with improved port services.
Among the recent purchases were four gantry cranes - two post-Panamax cranes for Jebel Ali, bringing the total there to eight.
Two fourth-generation Panamax cranes has been purchased for Port Rashid, raising the number of cranes at the terminal to nine.
