<p data-path-to-node="2"><b data-path-to-node="2" data-index-in-node="0">SHARJAH / KHORFAKKAN</b> — In an aggressive move to capture expanding outbound capital from the subcontinent and secure bilateral supply chains, the Sharjah FDI Office (Invest in Sharjah), in coordination with the Sharjah Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority, has rolled out a targeted bilateral investment initiative seeking to attract $3 billion in direct Indian capital commitments across the emirate’s ports, maritime logistics, and bonded industrial infrastructure by late 2027.</p><p data-path-to-node="3">The high-level outreach focuses on Indian multi-modal freight operators, third-party logistics (3PL) conglomerates, export-import trading consortiums, and manufacturing conglomerates looking to establish regional distribution bases outside the Persian Gulf. Central to this investment roadmap is the continued multi-phased deepwater expansion and technological modernization of the Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT), strategically operated by Gulftainer along the Gulf of Oman.</p><p data-path-to-node="4">Because Khorfakkan is situated directly on Sharjah’s eastern seaboard outside the narrow, geopolitically vulnerable Strait of Hormuz, maritime planners are pitching the facility as an indispensable bypass harbor for commercial cargo moving between Western Indian ports—such as Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), Mundra, Hazira, and Cochin—and consumer markets across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). With ongoing marine security risks, heightened tanker inspections, and volatile war-risk insurance premiums affecting passage through inner-gulf waterways, Khorfakkan provides ocean liners and feeder operators with an agile, open-sea deepwater gateway that avoids internal Gulf transit bottlenecks altogether.</p><p data-path-to-node="5">Under the expanded investment framework, international investors and Indian supply chain players are being offered expedited single-window commercial licensing, long-term land leases, and customs duty exemptions within the specialized free zones adjoining Khorfakkan Port and the inland Al Dhaid logistics complex. These dedicated zones are designed to support heavy container freight stations, GDP-compliant temperature-controlled pharmaceutical warehouses, bulk agricultural storage silos, and value-added light assembly plants.</p><p data-path-to-node="6">The initiative is closely coupled with landside multimodal connectivity upgrades across the UAE. Freight arriving at Khorfakkan can be transferred directly to express road haulage corridors and integrated rail loading yards connected into the national Etihad Rail network. This overland distribution web allows containerized and palletized shipments landed at the eastern deepwater docks to reach key industrial clusters and retail fulfillment centers in Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and neighboring GCC overland customs borders within hours of vessel discharge, cutting out several days of coastal steaming.</p><p data-path-to-node="7">Senior trade officials from the Sharjah investment mission emphasized that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the UAE has fundamentally accelerated non-oil bilateral commerce, pushing corporate logistics operators to demand more resilient, nearshore warehousing and sea-air transshipment hubs. By formalizing structured co-investment channels and terminal concessions for Indian logistics majors, Sharjah aims to build an integrated commercial corridor capable of shielding subcontinental trade flows from maritime chokepoint volatility while driving long-term industrial growth.</p>