First, it was crude — now we might also get an export hub for petrochemicals on the east coast

Doubling down on the east coast? As Adnoc speeds up plans to develop its West-East pipeline and double its crude export capacity that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, the company is now looking at doing the exact same for its petrochemicals arm.

Borouge signed an agreement with AD Ports to explore building an alternative export hub for petrochemical shipments on the East Coast — centered around Fujairah and other eastern port facilities, according to a statement. This includes looking at ways to “enhance flexibility in vessel scheduling and routing” and assessing new routes and shipping lines via Fujairah Terminals.

This comes as the UAE looks for alternative export routes that can bypass the Strait of Hormuz and the stop-start disruption there. AD Ports specifically has been building redundancy across ports, trucks, rail, air freight, and storage, building what Chief Sustainability and Risk Management Officer Saif Al Mheiri called an “East Coast Plan” in a recent interview with CNBC Arabia.

The past few months have already seen much more throughput move east. More than 130k containers and 215k tons of bulk cargo have moved through Fujairah and Khor Fakkan since the beginning of March, Al Mheiri said. Ports along the east coast now handle around 1.8k containers per day, with Fujairah alone seeing increases in vessel calls to more than 25 ships a month. Rail volumes also surged from just four monthly trips to some 120 trips, with occupancy rates reaching 80%.

Meanwhile, storage capacity was expanded by more than 76k sqm, with plans to expand it further by up to 188k sqm, Al Mheiri added.