Abu Dhabi to set up UAE’s largest logistics hub to serve growing e-commerce industry

Abu Dhabi Investment Office and Dubai Online Marketplace noon An agreement was signed to build the UAE’s largest logistics hub to meet the country’s needs The fast-growing e-commerce industry.

The 252,000-square-meter complex will be built in Abu Dhabi Khalifa Economic Zone (Kezad), scheduled to open in 2024.It will create 6,000 jobs, which in turn will support UAE’s Digital Economy InitiativeAdeo said in a statement on Thursday.

A large fulfillment centre that meets the Estidama 2 Pearl sustainability standards will also cement Abu Dhabi’s position as an emerging major player in e-commerce and logistics.

UAE capital has hosted Amazon’s largest fulfillment centerthe world’s largest e-commerce platform, opened in June.

In terms of scale, however, Noon’s hub will surpass Amazon’s. Amazon’s distribution center is built on a 175,000-square-meter site.

Abdulla Alshamsi, Acting Director General of Adio, said: “Abu Dhabi is setting the stage for the global e-commerce industry, creating a thriving environment for innovative and ambitious companies.”

“Noon’s partnership with Adio and Kezad Group is significant in terms of scale and impact, creating thousands of jobs and new opportunities for the private sector to integrate into the e-commerce platform and the emirate’s innovation ecosystem.”

Adjacent industries such as transportation and warehousing, both key to the e-commerce supply chain, will also benefit from the Adio-Noon partnership, Mr. Alshamsi said.

The UAE offers huge opportunities for e-commerce companies. The industry in the country is expected to grow by 60% from 2021 to more than $8 billion by 2025, as consumers in the region continue to turn to online retailing, according to Euromonitor International.

Noon, a portal backed by the founders of Emaar Mohammad Alabar Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was the third-largest e-commerce player in the UAE last year, with net sales of about $169 million last year, according to ecommerceDB.

Amazon – also under construction The Middle East’s most technologically advanced logistics center in Abu Dhabialso scheduled to open in 2024 – is the largest, with net sales of $500 million last year, while Namshi, the e-commerce arm of Dubai’s Emaar Malls Bought at noon August was second with $335.2 million and second with $249 million.

Fulfillment centers have always been at the heart of the operations of e-commerce companies. Unlike normal warehouses that only store products for distribution later, fulfillment centers temporarily hold items designed to be packaged and delivered to customers faster.

According to Grand View Research, the global e-commerce fulfillment services market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.5% to reach approximately $195 billion in 2030, compared to $86.4 billion in 2021.

Noon’s fulfillment centre will feature new automation technology for storage, material movement and sorting, designed to speed up the delivery of products in the UAE, and will serve as a hub for serving Noon’s other smaller units, the statement said.

“Abu Dhabi’s new e-commerce hub will unite millions of customers and thousands of businesses to power the next phase of growth in the UAE’s digital economy. As a local technology company, we have a responsibility to innovate, Invent and provide the best infrastructure,” Mr Alabar said.