By: OrePulse

Etihad Rail and AD Ports Group launched a direct rail freight service on September 20, 2026, linking Fujairah Terminals on the UAE's Gulf of Oman coast with the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD), the companies said.

The rail link covers roughly 200 kilometers between Fujairah Terminals and ICAD. It is scheduled to run three times a week, carrying containers, general cargo and roll-on/roll-off shipments that previously needed a separate road leg to reach inland customers. Customs clearance, inspection and cargo release can now be completed at ICAD rather than at the port itself.

Central to the launch is a new United Nations location code assigned to ICAD, AECAD, letting freight forwarders, shipping lines and cargo owners name the industrial zone itself — rather than a seaport — as a shipment's destination and clearance point for the first time. Etihad Rail and AD Ports Group said pairing that designation with on-site customs and inspection facilities would shorten the interval between a vessel's arrival and a shipment's final delivery, while cutting truck traffic on roads linking the coast to the capital.

The rail-and-customs package targets Abu Dhabi-based manufacturers, distributors, importers and exporters, along with logistics operators, giving them a way to take cargo delivery near their own warehouses and production sites rather than through the seaport itself. The companies also pointed to lower emissions versus long-haul trucking as an advantage of shifting cargo onto rail.

Omar Alsebeyi, chief executive of Etihad Rail Freight, called the launch "another important step in unlocking the full potential of the UAE National Rail Network for our customers." He said the partnership with AD Ports Group had produced a logistics solution that "goes beyond transportation" by bringing key port services closer to where cargo is ultimately needed, adding that combining rail access with inland customs handling and direct booking to ICAD would help customers "move goods more efficiently, simplify logistics processes, and reduce the time between vessel arrival and final delivery."

Saif Al Mazrouei, chief executive of the ports cluster at AD Ports Group, said the arrangement connected Fujairah Terminals, the national rail network and ICAD "as part of a more connected system," extending the port operator's reach beyond the terminal gate. He said it would give businesses "greater flexibility in how they access markets and manage their supply chains". He said it would reinforce Abu Dhabi's position as "a gateway of choice for trade and industry."

Fujairah Terminals sits on the UAE's Gulf of Oman coastline and is run by AD Ports Group, moving container, general and roll-on/roll-off cargo through the port. The operator says the facility ties into a wider set of port, industrial-zone, logistics and digital assets it runs across the country, supporting UAE trade connections reaching into the Gulf, India, the Red Sea and East Africa.

The Fujairah-ICAD route follows other recent expansion for Etihad Rail's freight business, which carried vehicles by rail for the first time in April, alongside continued build-out of the wider network's passenger stations through 2026. Neither company disclosed the cost of setting up the new inland gateway or gave projected cargo volumes for the route.