Port of Khor Fakkan (Port Code:AEKFA) is one of the world’s leading container transshipment ports. It is strategically located on Sharjah’s Indian Ocean coast, outside the sensitive Straits of Hormuz and close to the main east-west shipping routes. The modern Khor Fakkan Container Terminal was inaugurated in 1979, and is the only natural deep-sea port in the region, and one of the top ports in the Emirates for containers. The Dh 300 million ($81.75 million) project involved reclaiming some 150,000 square metres (1,600,000 sq ft) to increase the storage capacity and to facilitate large cranes, and 16 metres (52 ft) deep quays to accommodate for major vessels over 400 metres (1,300 ft) in length. As of 2004 it handled 1.6 million TEU's.
The port is part of the Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the south via the southern tip of India to Mombasa, from there through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the North Sea.