Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) has been awarded the Best Seaport and the Best Container Operator accolades at the 15th Asian Freight Industry Awards (AFIA) for the Middle East region.

DPA was voted the Best Seaport, Middle East, for the seventh consecutive year by readers of the multimodal magazine Cargonews Asia who had been asked to select the best service providers in the cargo industry.

Winners were selected in different categories including airlines, airports, seaports, shipping lines, logistics operators, freight forwarders and warehouse operators.

"These awards are used by industry professionals to benchmark performance, track year-on-year positions and monitor vote share with the key factor that only customers vote for their respective service providers," said a DPA spokesman.

"Most major international lines call at Dubai," confirmed Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority, and DPA Managing Director. "There is not a single international destination which cannot be covered by Dubai. From Dubai we can send cargo anywhere in the world."

According to Bin Sulayem, DPA and Dubai's business community have developed a truly symbiotic relationship.

The top-class facilities and services of the ports have brought more business to Dubai in general and the Jebel Ali Free Zone in particular. The growth in business has spurred DPA to further expand its facilities.

Last year, DPA reached a handling of over 3 million TEU, while the Jebel Ali Free Zone has also been instrumental in reinforcing Dubai's distribution capability. Jebel Ali Free Zone is now a base for over 1,900 national and multinational manufacturers and distributors.

Senior DPA Commercial Manager Anwar Wajdi received the award on behalf of his organisation at the award ceremony in Hong Kong.