The first history of Dubai's emergence as a global port and trade hub

A small town on a sandy creek half a century ago, Dubai is now the largest trading, commercial, leisure and transport entrepot in the Gulf and wider region. This book explains the reasons for the emergence of Dubai and its distinctive development trajectory, arguing that the decision, in the 1970s, to invest in infrastructure made possible by shipping containerization laid the foundations for its future expansion. The book shows that in contrast to its competitors’ hydrocarbon rentier economic model, Dubai’s creation and expansion of ports and airports, together with ‘value-added’ logistics and business-friendly enhancements, were used to out-compete regional rivals. Drawing on a range of primary and secondary sources, including interviews with logistics business-people, government records, memoirs, it fills a significant lacuna in the history of Dubai’s development and emergence as a global trade hub.

"'Well researched and lucidly written by an experienced industry veteran, this is the most comprehensive and accessible volume on the history of Dubai’s shipping and transport sector – the real powerhouse behind the emirate’s astonishing twentieth and twenty-first century development. Essential reading for all with an interest in the UAE, the Gulf states, and international port infrastructure.'" - Christopher Davidson, Royal United Services Institute, UK