By: Economy Middle East

AD Ports Group announced on Wednesday that it has acquired an additional 30 percent equity stake in one of its most strategic assets, Global Feeder Shipping (GFS), for AED1.1 billion ($300 million), raising its holding to 81 percent.

In February 2024, AD Ports Group acquired a 51 percent stake in Dubai-based GFS, the world’s fourth-largest container feeder shipping line by capacity, with a call option to increase its ownership by December 2026.

“Through the acquisition of an additional 30 percent stake in Global Feeder Shipping, AD Ports Group is reaffirming its commitment to investing in one of the most important and high-performing assets within our integrated business portfolio,” said Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, Managing Director and Group CEO of AD Ports Group.

GFS reinforces group’s role as a reliable enabler of trade through volatility
AD Ports Group exercised the call option at the same total enterprise value of AED3.67 billion ($1 billion) set in 2024. The acquisition will be funded through a mix of debt and asset monetization transactions.

The group’s container feeder shipping business, which involves the transport of goods using small and medium-sized vessels between major transit hubs and smaller ports, has grown rapidly since its initial launch in 2020. GFS is now among the group’s most strategically significant assets.

Through a sustained period of maritime disruption, GFS maintained and expanded trade connectivity where other operators withdrew, ensuring the uninterrupted flow of cargo for customers across the GCC region, whilst serving the Indian Subcontinent, Red Sea, Far East, Mediterranean and Africa regions, reinforcing AD Ports Group’s role as a reliable enabler of trade through volatility.

In doing so, it has extended the group’s geographic reach, broadened its customer base and connected its terminals to a wider set of economies, with increased depth across the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

“GFS has expanded our reach into new markets and brought us closer to our customers, connecting our ports to more economies across the Red Sea and the Gulf at a time when reliable trade connectivity matters most. Our increased ownership in GFS allows us to deepen its integration within the group’s portfolio and enables further growth across our shipping business,” Al Shamisi added.

Acquisition to strengthen AD Ports Group’s end-to-end trade and logistics solutions

The increase in GFS’s ownership to 81 percent reinforces AD Ports Group’s cash flow generation and provides greater strategic and operational control over this core asset, enabling deeper integration with the group’s ports, economic cities and logistics operations. This will further strengthen the end-to-end trade and logistics solutions AD Ports Group offers to customers worldwide.

In 2025, GFS transported 2.8 million TEUs and made more than 700 voyages covering 89 ports in 54 countries. Since the acquisition of its initial 51 percent stake in February 2024, GFS has generated a total cumulative EBITDA of over AED1.8 billion ($500 million).

Alongside SAFEEN Feeders and Transmar, GFS forms the core of the group’s container feeder shipping business, providing essential services for the movement of goods in and out of the UAE. In 2025, overall container feeder shipping revenue rose 17 percent year-on-year from 2024.

The business also expanded the group’s global footprint, playing an integral role in its trade ecosystem spanning Ports, Economic Cities & Free Zones, Maritime & Shipping, Logistics, and Digital services business clusters.

In 2025, the total revenue of the Maritime & Shipping Cluster grew 33 percent to AED10.7 billion, while the Cluster EBITDA rose 25 percent year-on-year to AED2.5 billion. Overall, the Maritime & Shipping Cluster generated 51 percent of AD Ports Group’s revenue, and 45 percent of the Group’s EBITDA.