The Dh257 million Dubai Flower Centre (DFC), which was opened yesterday at Dubai International Airport as the new transport hub for perishables, aims to break even in seven years.
DFC was first scheduled to open in October last year and was finally launched yesterday.
"The centre is expected to recover its costs in about seven years," a spokesperson for the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) told Emirates Today in an earlier interview.
ADI Consulting, a Zurichbased firm, has been appointed to handle all the operational and commercial aspects of the centre, which covers 60,000 square metres.
The centre handled 3,475 tonnes of perishables flowers, fruit and vegetables in the first 10 days of operations. It can handle 180,000 tonnes of produce a year.
The main markets for the centre's flower imports will be eastern and southern Africa Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia as well as Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia.The other important markets include India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and China.
DFC claims to be more than just a logistics hub. According to the DCA, it will also offer the floriculture industry a commercial base, allowing exporters, importers and wholesalers to establish trading companies to transact in a tax, duty and exchangecontrol-free environment, through the Dubai Flower Centre Free Zone.
According to the statistics provided by the DCA, 12 per cent of the air-freight market is perishable. And out of the top 20 floriculture importers, Britain has the highest share of 85 per cent, followed by the United States at 11 per cent and South Africa at 10 per cent.
According to the DCA, the primary focus of the facility will be flowers, but it will also have the capability to handle a wide range of perishables. While a full range of floriculture products will be handled in the facility, including roses, carnations, orchids, tulips, and more exotic varieties such as protea, anthurium and other species, foliage and potted plants will also be processed. And other perishables to be handled in the facility will include fruit and vegetables.
DFC is built on three levels. The ground floor is where the main handling operations for import, export and transit will occur.This will include segregated cool storage areas. The Customs, Dubai Municipality and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will have facilities under controlled temperature for all inspection requirements.
The second and third floors will operate as free zones, where international traders can establish offices and warehouses for added-value services like sorting, repackaging, bouquet-making and packaging for supermarkets.
By Shweta Jain
© Emirates Today 2006
