FREE ZONE FILE

Dubai Maritime City

Emirate DubaiEstablished 2007Type Maritime cluster. Land and berths leased by the city, licences registered by JAFZA

Authority JAFZA for company registration, DP World, plus Dubai Maritime Authority for activity permits

What we think

Dubai Maritime City does not license anyone. JAFZA registers every company here, so the JAFZA tariff is the one you will pay, plus an annual maritime activity permit of AED 5,020 from the Dubai Maritime Authority that no comparison site mentions.

Publishes its headline prices, but not everything

Packages

No package price is published. No package is sold under the Dubai Maritime City name. Company registration follows the JAFZA licence tariff, from AED 5,000 to AED 30,000 per year depending on activity.

Where each line was read: product page, a commercial commitment on the zone's own site. Official document, a downloadable schedule, regulation or terms. Blog only, an article on the zone's site, editorial and not contractual. Not published, the zone does not say.

Visas

Cost of an employee visanot published by Dubai Maritime Citynot published

Visa quotagoverned by the JAFZA rules attached to the leased facilitynot published

Offices and desks

Land, berth and workshop leasesnot published, quoted on enquiry onlynot published

Office rentsnot publishednot published

Year two, and closing down

The two figures nobody advertises. A cheap first year means nothing if year two doubles, and nothing at all if leaving costs a fortune.

Renewal, per year

not published by the zone

Follows the JAFZA renewal tariff since JAFZA is the registrar. The maritime activity permit from the Dubai Maritime Authority is renewed separately at AED 5,020 per year.

Closing the company

AED 6,500

AED 5,000 JAFZA deregistration plus AED 1,500 for the compulsory newspaper advertisement, so AED 6,500 in practice.

Other fees and penalties

Company licence, JAFZA tariffAED 5,000 to AED 30,000 per year by activity

Maritime activity permit, Dubai Maritime AuthorityAED 5,020 per year

Deregistration, JAFZAAED 5,000

Compulsory liquidation advertisementAED 1,500

Binding terms

Every company established in Dubai Maritime City is registered and licensed by JAFZA.
A separate annual maritime activity permit is required from the Dubai Maritime Authority.
The city leases land, berths and workshops but does not issue trade licences.

Contradictions on the zone's own site

Comparison sites list Dubai Maritime City as an independent licensing free zone with its own price. It is not one, and it has no price of its own.

What this zone does not publish

Any licence price published under the Dubai Maritime City name.
Employee visa cost and visa quota.
Land, berth and office rents.
Trade name reservation fee.
Late renewal penalties.
Minimum share capital and audit obligation.
Any agent or referral commission terms.

Where every figure above comes from

dubaimaritimecity.ae
jafza.ae, licence and fee pages
dma.gov.ae, permit tariff

Read on the zone's official site on 13 aout 2026. We print the addresses rather than link them, so you can check any figure word for word, and so this page stays a comparison rather than a doorway.

AED 1,000 back on this zone

This zone pays us an introduction fee, and we hand AED 1,000 of it back to you once your trade licence has actually been issued. You pay the zone exactly what you would pay going direct, we never take a dirham from you, and the cashback is only due if you filled in the Free Zone Radar form first.

Check whether this zone fits your case12 questions, about 90 seconds. It may well tell you this zone is wrong for you.

Figures quoted from the zone are left in the language the zone published them in, so you can check them word for word. This file is available in English and French. The comparator itself is in Arabic too.