The role of Port Development in the Economic Development of Dubai

The last 20-25 years has seen Dubai turn into a global financial and trading center, contributing actively to the economic growth of UAE. This recent progress has attracted plenty of investments into Dubai developing its major port Jebel Ali to a great extent and turning it into the largest commercial port in the Middle East. However, the question that arises is whether this recent port development and the economic development have some sort of link with each other. With the influx of Foreign Direct Investment, Tourism and other growth-related factors, it can be argued that Dubai’s recent growth is due to a mix of factors rather than only it’s port development. This paper aimed to examine if there exists a link between the economic development of a region and its port performance. If there does exist a relationship, then how influential was the Port of Dubai in its economic development. First, an overview would be given regarding the area of Dubai and how influential it’s port is in the Middle-Eastern region. Then a literature review would examine the relation between port performance and economic development, along with explaining some key indicators used to measure economic development and port performance. After discussing a mix of other factors that could have also contributed to the development of Dubai, a quantitative analysis was conducted to assess the empirical link between economic growth and port performance. The analysis showed a positive link between the economic development and port development with some interesting findings related to Tourism, FDI and education. It was concluded that in terms of logistical and cost-purposes, development of Jebel Ali did enhance the economic development of Dubai between the years 2006-2017, but other factors also played a significant role.