Comparison
Hamriyah vs JAFZA
Hamriyah Free Zone against Jebel Ali Free Zone. The specifications side by side, what each actually costs, how banks receive them, and a straight answer about which suits which business.
Side by side
| Criterion | Hamriyah | JAFZA |
|---|---|---|
| Emirate | Sharjah | Dubai |
| Type | Free zone | Free zone |
| Location | Hamriyah Port | Jebel Ali Port |
| Licence issuance | 2–4 weeks | 2–4 weeks |
| Residence visas | Scales with leased space; labour accommodation available | Scales with leased space — the highest ceilings in Dubai |
| Ownership | 100% foreign | 100% foreign |
| Premises | Land plots, warehouses, on-site labour housing | Warehouses, plots, offices, on-site staff accommodation |
| Commonly licensed | Manufacturing & industrial, Energy, oil & gas, Shipping & maritime, Logistics & warehousing | Logistics & warehousing, Manufacturing & industrial, Trading & distribution, Shipping & maritime |
Timelines and quotas are indicative and revised by the authorities without notice.
Straight answer
Which one?
Both are port free zones with heavy industry. Hamriyah is materially cheaper on land and has a thirty-year oil and gas services cluster around it. JAFZA has the larger port, better global connectivity and a stronger name with banks and international counterparties. Oil and gas fabrication and services: Hamriyah. Container-borne trade and distribution at scale: JAFZA.
What each actually costs
Hamriyah
Industrial land at a fraction of Jebel Ali rates, with its own deep-water port and worker accommodation available.
JAFZA
Priced for cargo. Warehousing, plots and offices are at the premium end of UAE industrial space, and the value is in the port adjacency rather than the rate.
How banks receive them
Hamriyah
Fine for established industrial operations; new entrants face standard diligence.
JAFZA
Straightforward. JAFZA is long established and banks understand the trade flows of its tenants.
Who is based in each
Hamriyah
Oil and gas services, steel and metals, petrochemicals, marine services and heavy fabrication — a cluster thirty years in the making.
Heavy industry with its own deep-water port and an oil and gas supply-chain cluster that has been there thirty years. Industrial land at a fraction of Jebel Ali rates, twenty minutes further up the coast.
JAFZA
Shipping lines, freight forwarders, distributors, manufacturers, oil and gas supply chain and the regional distribution arms of multinationals. Roughly 10,000 companies.
The oldest free zone in the UAE and still the one that matters if goods physically move. It sits inside the largest container port between Singapore and Rotterdam, connects to Al Maktoum airport, and can house your workforce on site. Nothing else in Dubai does all three.
Activities
Questions
Hamriyah: Industrial land at a fraction of Jebel Ali rates, with its own deep-water port and worker accommodation available. JAFZA: Priced for cargo. Warehousing, plots and offices are at the premium end of UAE industrial space, and the value is in the port adjacency rather than the rate.
Hamriyah — fine for established industrial operations; new entrants face standard diligence. JAFZA — straightforward. JAFZA is long established and banks understand the trade flows of its tenants.
Hamriyah hosts oil and gas services, steel and metals, petrochemicals, marine services and heavy fabrication — a cluster thirty years in the making. JAFZA hosts shipping lines, freight forwarders, distributors, manufacturers, oil and gas supply chain and the regional distribution arms of multinationals. Roughly 10,000 companies.