Licensable activity
Shipping & maritime
Ship owning, ship management, chartering, brokerage, agency, bunkering and marine services. The UAE is one of the largest bunkering markets in the world, concentrated at Fujairah.
Classification
How it is coded.
UAE activity lists derive from ISIC Revision 4, the United Nations industrial classification. Each emirate's economic department and each free zone then extends that base with its own numbering, so the same activity carries a different code in Dubai than it does in Sharjah or inside DMCC.
- ISIC Rev. 4
- Section H — division 50 (water transport); Section M for management and agency
- Licence category
- Commercial or Professional
- Regulator
- Federal Transport Authority — Land and Maritime
Approvals beyond the licence
- Vessel registration
- Separate from the company licence — a ship is registered, flagged and classed on its own track.
- Port operations
- The relevant port authority, per port.
- Bunkering
- Federal and emirate approvals, plus environmental conditions.
In practice
Fujairah's position outside the Strait of Hormuz is the commercial logic of the east coast trade. Dubai Maritime City, Hamriyah and JAFZA cover the western side, with actual water access in the first two.
Coverage
Where it can be licensed.
Of the 40 licensing authorities across the UAE, 6 issue licences covering this activity, spread across 4 of the seven emirates.