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List of Hamriyah and Sharjah free trade zones

Sharjah and Hamriyah free trade zones information. The two most established or well-known free trade zones in Sharjah are Sharjah Airport Free Zone (SAIF) and Hamriya Free Zone (HFZ). Shams or Sharjah Media City is a newer free zone.

• Hamriyah is on the coast between the emirates of Ajman and Umm Al Quwain (a bit of Sharjah splits the two geographically).
• Sharjah Airport Free Zone is off the Sharjah Airport road heading out of Sharjah, before you get to the airport.
• Note that Port Khalid is not a free zone, it is the main seaport of Sharjah, in the downtown area.

Hamriya Free Zone (HFZ)

Hamriyah Free Zone is located on the other side of Ajman emirate from Sharjah city, but it is still part of Sharjah emirate, not Ajman.

• Hamriyah, Hamaria, Hamria, Hamriya Port and Free Zone (FZ) contact details and postal address: PO Box 1377, Sharjah, UAE, tel +971-6-5263333, fax +971-6-5263555, email hfz@hamriyahfreezone.ae.
• Director General Dr Rashid Al Leem.
• Established 12 November 1995.
• Comments about insufficient electricity supplies?
• Infrastructure and port facilities being expanded in 2010?
• DHL announced in July 2010 a new bonded storage facility in HFZ.
• Hamriya Free Zone Authority (HFZA) is the organisation in charge of HFZ.

Hamriya Free Zone and Port expansion (Gulf News 18 Jun 2010)

• Hamriyah Free Zone recently completed AED 800 million worth of infrastructure development including phases 3 and 4 of the inner harbour project to accommodate larger vessels, and increase capacity to 40 ships.
• Hamriyah Inner Harbour has an additional 2 basins with depth from 5-9 meters, and an additional 3.8 km of quay wall.
• Free zone marine operations will include facilities for ship maintenance and repairs, oil rig manufacturing, and other maritime industries.
• Road network increased by 80 km.
• 700 new companies joined HFZ from January to June 2010, total number of companies is 4,700.
• Total investment in HFZ is over AED 11 billion.

Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (SAIF)

• PO Box 8000, tel +971-6-5570000, fax +971-6-5571131, email info@saif-zone.com or saifzone@emirates.net.ae.
• Established September 1995.
• Chairman Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani.

Other entry points for goods in Sharjah

• Port Khaled (Port Khalid) and Sharjah Container Terminal, not a free zone.
• Khorfakkan Port (Khor Fakkan) on the East Coast of the UAE (up the road from Fujairah), not a free zone.

Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone (SPCFZ, SPZ-FZ)

• Established by Amiri Decree No. 14 for 2013 (WAM 06 Dec 2013).
• Subsidiary of the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA).
• Activities include development, design, use and maintenance of materials, programs and databases relevant to the printing and publishing industry. Also printing, publication, distribution of books, magazines, newspapers, and other media.
• Companies and staff in SPCFZ exempted from all emirate based taxes including income tax for 50 years (renewable) according to the decree.
• Sharjah Book Authority also announced, established by decree no. 13 for 2013. SBA activities to include collecting and preseving Emirati, Arab and international ancient manuscripts; development and maintenance of materials relevant to books, libraries, printing, publishing, translation.
• Also Sharjah Publishing City Free Zone Authority (SPCFZA)?

List of other free zones in Sharjah

• Shams, Sharjah Media City, SMC, free zone. Announced Jan 2016. Website www.shams.ae.
• Sharjah Oasis Technology and Innovation (SOTI), Sharjah Free Zone Authority (SFZA), established Jan 2016 by Emiri Decree No. 05 of 2019. Operated or owned by the University of Sharjah.

USA Regional Trade Center (USARTC)

The USARTC was announced in Nov 2011 by the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), to facilitate trade between organisations and establishments in the USA, and the UAE and MENA region. It was officially opened on 16 Dec 2012. CEO is Jihad Sheikh Solaiman. Most free zone setup consultants and websites include USARTC as a free zone in their lists of UAE free zones (last checked Oct 2019) but ...

Not entirely clear how USARTC qualifies as a free zone, the news reports and description of its activities make it sound more like a country specific trade office. And the CEO in a 2017 interview did not say USARTC was a free zone, only that they helped companies to set up in a free zone: "American companies usually look for free zones, so we maintain good relationships with the free zone authorities and can offer companies locations in free zones. This is one of the most attractive aspects of the center, as we provide assistance in operating in a free zone ..." Reference The Business Year (TBY) 2017, interview date not given.

The SCCI website has no information about the USARTC (to be fair, it doesn't have much information about the other free zones in Sharjah either), nor is the USARTC included in the SCCI website list of "Trade Centers and Business Councils". The Sharjah Government website only mentions SAIF and HFZ as free zones in Sharjah, not USARTC (or Shams or SPC). The UAE government website lists SAIF, HFZ, and Shams as free zones in Sharjah, not USARTC or SPC.

• A website at www.usartc.com advertises free zone company setup services but doesn't say in which free zone the company would be based.
  • Prices are about AED 25,000 per year. Additional AED 5,000 every 3 years for each UAE residence visa.
  • Offices, meeting rooms, and exhibition space rental also available.
• Location of the USA Regional Trade Center is next to the Sharjah Expo Center on Al Taawun Rd.
• Tel (landline) not provided. Mobile numbers given as +971-56-1180989 or +971-55-4546179 but we did not confirm if they really are USARTC official numbers. Email address not provided.
• Postal address: USARTC, PO Box 39283, Sharjah, UAE.

Last update Saturday 19-Oct-2019

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