20 September 2026
Etihad Rail Freight and AD Ports Group launched a direct rail service between Fujairah Terminals and the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD) on 20 September 2026. Containers landed at Fujairah now move by rail straight to ICAD, where inspection, customs clearance and cargo release are carried out on site. ICAD has been assigned its own UN LOCODE, AECAD, so shipping lines, freight forwarders and cargo owners can book a container to ICAD as both the destination and the clearance point, without arranging a separate road leg from the port. For a company with a warehouse or a plant in Abu Dhabi, the customs counter has effectively moved next to the production line.
What exactly was launched
Etihad Rail Freight, the Etihad Rail subsidiary responsible for delivering freight services, and AD Ports Group combined two things that used to be handled separately. The first is a dedicated rail freight service running between Fujairah Terminals and ICAD. The second is a customs enabled inland cargo gateway at ICAD itself, with its own inspection and clearance infrastructure.
The combination is what makes the announcement operational rather than symbolic. A rail link on its own would still leave the customs formalities at the coast. An inland clearance yard on its own would still require trucking from the port. Put together, they extend the reach of Fujairah Terminals beyond the port gates: cargo arriving at the east coast terminal is placed on rail and released to its owner inside Abu Dhabi.
The AECAD code and why it matters
The milestone that underpins the launch is administrative rather than physical. ICAD has been designated with its own UN LOCODE, AECAD. UN LOCODE is the United Nations code list for trade and transport locations, and it is what carrier booking systems, customs platforms and freight software use to identify a place. Until a location carries a code, it cannot appear as a destination in those systems.
With AECAD in place, for the first time shipping lines, freight forwarders and cargo owners can book cargo directly to ICAD as the destination and clearance point. In practice that removes a planning step. The importer no longer books to a seaport and then arranges inland delivery as a separate contract, because the inland industrial zone is now a recognised international logistics location inside global shipping and trade systems.
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Operators | Etihad Rail Freight and AD Ports Group |
| Route | Fujairah Terminals to Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD) |
| New UN LOCODE | AECAD, assigned to ICAD |
| Services available at ICAD | inspection, customs clearance, cargo release |
| Booking | direct to ICAD as destination and clearance point |
| Separate road leg from the port | no longer required |
| National rail network | 900 km, Ghuwaifat to Fujairah |
| Freight footprint | 11 terminals and four major ports |
How the customs step changes
Under the new arrangement, containers arriving at Fujairah Terminals are transported directly by rail to ICAD for inspection, clearance and release. The formalities take place next to the customer operations in Abu Dhabi rather than at the coast. The stated effects are simpler customs processes, fewer handling requirements and faster movement of goods across Abu Dhabi.
No transit times or tariffs were published with the launch, and we are not going to estimate them here. What is published is the shape of the change: one booking instead of two, fewer handovers, and the clearance formalities performed at the point where the cargo is actually needed.
Who the service is built for
The solution is designed for importers, exporters, manufacturers, distributors and logistics providers operating across Abu Dhabi, so that cargo arrives closer to warehouses, production facilities and end markets. The groups that stand to see the difference first:
- importers bringing containerised cargo in through the east coast;
- manufacturers inside ICAD and the surrounding Abu Dhabi industrial zones;
- distributors holding stock in Abu Dhabi warehouses;
- exporters consolidating cargo inland before it moves to the coast;
- freight forwarders and third party logistics operators building multimodal routes.
Against traditional long haul trucking, the declared advantages are reliable schedules, reduced road congestion, room to scale for high volume cargo movements and lower carbon emissions.
What the two operators said
Omar Alsebeyi, Chief Executive Officer at Etihad Rail Freight, said the service goes beyond transportation by bringing key port services closer to where cargo is ultimately needed, and pointed to the combination of rail connectivity, customs enabled inland handling and direct booking to ICAD as the way to cut the time between vessel arrival and final delivery.
Saif Al Mazrouei, Chief Executive Officer of the Ports Cluster at AD Ports Group, described the result as bringing Fujairah Terminals, the UAE National Rail Network and ICAD (AECAD) together into one connected system that extends port infrastructure beyond the terminal and brings essential services closer to customers.
Where this sits in the national network
The UAE National Rail Network runs 900 km from Ghuwaifat on the western border to Fujairah on the east coast, with freight operations across 11 terminals and four major ports, a fleet of 38 locomotives and more than 1,000 wagons. Fujairah Terminals, part of the AD Ports Group ecosystem, sits on the Gulf of Oman side of the country, outside the Strait of Hormuz, and connects the UAE to the GCC, India, the Red Sea and East Africa.
The freight network keeps expanding alongside the passenger side. Etihad Rail and Etihad Airways signed an agreement in September 2026 on integrated air and rail booking, and the first UAE to Oman line, Hafeet Rail, is due to begin trial operations in the final quarter of 2027. The east coast link itself has already been reshaping the Fujairah property market.
What this means for companies in the UAE
For a trading or manufacturing company registered in Abu Dhabi, the practical change sits in the design of the supply chain rather than in the licence. Three things are worth checking now:
- whether your carrier or forwarder already quotes AECAD as a destination, since the code exists but each line has to configure it in its own booking system;
- where your customs clearance is performed today and what the inland trucking leg costs per container;
- whether your warehouse or plant sits close enough to ICAD for inland release to shorten the final leg rather than lengthen it.
Company structure still decides what you may import and where you may sell it. A free zone licence and a mainland licence treat customs duty, local distribution and VAT differently, and that choice comes before any routing question. Our guide on mainland versus free zone companies in the UAE sets out the difference in detail.
How Atlant Capital can help
We work with owners who are setting up or restructuring a UAE trading, distribution or logistics business. That covers company registration in the free zone or mainland structure that fits the import model, activity selection and licensing, and corporate bank account opening for trade settlements. Where import documents, certificates of origin or powers of attorney have to be recognised by UAE authorities, we handle document legalisation as well. We do not act as a freight forwarder and do not quote transport rates; our part is the corporate and regulatory layer that the routing decision sits on top of.
Conclusion
The Fujairah to ICAD service is a small announcement with a specific mechanism behind it. A UN LOCODE turns an industrial zone into a bookable destination, a dedicated rail service moves the boxes there, and customs infrastructure on site releases them next to the customer. Importers and manufacturers in Abu Dhabi can ask their carrier for an AECAD booking today; everyone else in the country now has a live example of how far inland a UAE port can reach.
Source: Abu Dhabi Media Office.
FAQ
What is the new Fujairah to ICAD rail service?
It is a direct rail freight service launched on 20 September 2026 by Etihad Rail Freight together with AD Ports Group. It carries cargo from Fujairah Terminals on the east coast to the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi, where a customs enabled inland gateway handles inspection, customs clearance and cargo release on site.
What does the UN LOCODE AECAD mean?
AECAD is the United Nations code for trade and transport locations that has been assigned to the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi. It makes ICAD a recognised international logistics location, so shipping lines, freight forwarders and cargo owners can book cargo directly to ICAD as the destination and clearance point instead of booking only to a seaport.
Can cargo be cleared through customs at ICAD instead of the port?
Yes. Containers arriving at Fujairah Terminals are moved by rail to ICAD, where inspection, clearance and release take place. The declared effects are simpler customs processes, fewer handling requirements and faster movement of goods across Abu Dhabi, with no separate road leg needed from the port.
Who benefits from the Fujairah to ICAD service?
The service is designed for importers, exporters, manufacturers, distributors and logistics providers operating across Abu Dhabi. It brings cargo closer to warehouses, production facilities and end markets, and the stated advantages over long haul trucking are reliable schedules, less road congestion, scalability for high volume flows and lower carbon emissions.
