Abu Dhabi Ports Group appoints Afif Al Yafei as CEO, bringing power transmission experience since 2020
Key Facts
AD Ports Group has named Dr. Afif Saif Al Yafei as group chief executive, placing at its helm an executive whose career has spanned energy, utilities and infrastructure. Al Yafei has served as chief executive of TAQA Transmission since 2020, according to his profile on the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation website. In that role, he led strategic planning, construction and operations for high-voltage electricity transmission networks and bulk water in Abu Dhabi and the surrounding area. His selection comes as he takes charge of a group operating in ports, shipping, logistics and other trade-related sectors. The appointment announcement cited Al Yafei’s experience and called for support for the group’s next phase of development, without announcing any specific change to its strategy.
Al Yafei’s move to TAQA followed a long career in the energy sector, including more than a decade in leadership roles at ADNOC Gas Processing, according to his profile. He also held positions at Tabreed, including executive vice president of asset management. His career spans infrastructure operations and asset management, before he took responsibility for electricity and water transmission networks. The appointment announcement, however, does not specify a particular executive mandate or link his previous experience to a new initiative at AD Ports Group. It announced his appointment and called for support for the company’s next phase of development.
The new chief executive takes charge of a group operating across five clusters: digital, economic cities and free zones, logistics, maritime and shipping, and ports. The group says these clusters connect global sea routes with international trade partners. This structure brings together port and shipping operations with logistics services, economic zones and digital solutions, making the role broader than managing a single port business. An earlier draft attributed to the appointment an aim of integrating energy expertise into logistics operations, but that interpretation does not appear in the company’s announcement. The stated mandate therefore remains to lead the group through its next phase, with no published details of changes to its business model.
The leadership change follows strong financial results reported by the group for the second quarter of 2026. Revenue rose 47% year on year to AED 7.08 billion, while net profit increased 88% to AED 836 million, according to results published by the company on August 14, 2026. The latest reported quarter gives the new management an important financial benchmark as the group operates across ports, maritime and logistics services, among other activities. Neither the results nor the appointment announcement provided new guidance on growth targets or the allocation of priorities across business clusters. The information provided also contains no data on the market’s reaction to the appointment.
The group said disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz prompted it to reroute shipping operations and feeder services to the ports of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan, as part of continuity measures it began implementing in March. The measures also included launching land and air bridges to strengthen supply-chain resilience. These steps put the continuity of goods flows at the center of the operating environment facing the new management, alongside the task of overseeing the group’s network of activities. In its second-quarter results, the company said net debt rose AED 1.27 billion during the quarter to AED 22.73 billion as of June 30, 2026. Meanwhile, the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved to 3.7 times from 3.9 times in the first quarter.
In its second-quarter results, the group said it expected to complete its acquisition of CLI by the end of the third quarter of 2026. It later announced the financial close of the deal in October, after receiving regulatory and antitrust approvals. The recently completed expansion is among the matters inherited by the new management, alongside overseeing the five clusters and addressing supply-chain challenges. The appointment statement did not announce specific next steps or a strategy change following completion of the deal. Al Yafei’s leadership therefore begins after a completed investment expansion and amid operational measures the group has taken to address shipping disruption. The available information gives no further date or subsequent execution target.