Iron Mountain Opens Its First UAE Warehouse at Dubai South to Run Unilever's Logistics

The facility sits in the EZDubai Logistics Hub and is operated by Iron Mountain, which is acting as Unilever's logistics service provider. According to Dubai South, it consolidates the consumer goods group's warehousing and fulfilment work across its divisions into a single building, combining bonded and non-bonded storage that would otherwise sit in separate locations.

The arrangement matters for two reasons. It gives Iron Mountain, a US company better known internationally for records storage and data centres, an operating foothold in the UAE for its warehousing and logistics business. And it is a sizeable consolidation of a multinational's regional supply chain inside one of Dubai's free-zone logistics districts, close to the emirate's air and sea gateways.

Beyond storage, Iron Mountain will provide value-added services for Unilever, including co-packing and the assembly of product sets, Dubai South said. The site will use drone technology, automated robotic inventory counting and other automation to run its operations. Neither company disclosed the value or length of the contract, or how many people will work at the site.

Mohsen Ahmad, chief executive of EZDubai Logistics Hub, said the facility "brings together services that support Unilever's supply chain" and adds to the logistics capabilities available within the Dubai South ecosystem.

Ako Djaf, managing director for warehousing and logistics in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey and Asia-Pacific at Iron Mountain, described the opening as an important milestone for the unit in the region. He said the operation would combine warehousing, fulfilment and value-added services while introducing technology to improve efficiency and inventory visibility, and that Dubai South offered strong connectivity to the region's main logistics gateways.

Djaf said Iron Mountain intends to build out its warehousing and logistics capabilities further in the UAE and across the wider region, though the company did not name additional sites, customers or investment figures.

Dubai South describes itself as the largest single-urban master development focused on aviation, logistics and real estate. The district surrounds Al Maktoum International Airport, which Dubai plans to turn into its main hub over the coming years, and has been marketing warehousing space to manufacturers and retailers that want to serve the Gulf from a single location.

The next test for the site is whether Iron Mountain can add customers beyond Unilever to the facility, which would show whether its regional logistics push extends past a single anchor contract.