Breakbulk Middle East 2027 · Dubai
Port operators, project cargo forwarders and shipping lines get two days at Breakbulk Middle East to meet the shippers behind Gulf heavy lift work. The 2027 edition opens on Tuesday 2 February at Dubai World Trade Centre. Our crews have worked two editions since 2016. Lazulite builds their modular and custom stands in Dubai Production City. Terminal models and fleet screens come from our catalogue, and an engineer stays until Wednesday's close.
Show facts
Breakbulk Middle East is an annual project cargo exhibition, run by Hyve Group's Breakbulk Events & Media since 2015 and held in Dubai since 2019.
Show details checked: 9 November 2026
Breakbulk Middle East is a two-day show on moving cargo too large for a standard container, such as turbines and refinery modules. Hyve Group tied its 2025 edition to giga projects in renewable energy, infrastructure and oil and gas. Heavy Lift, Voyage Chartering Essentials and AI workshops run beside the exhibition.
For 2027 the organiser adds Hall 4 to Halls 5 to 8 and the Pavilion, growing the floor by 21%. Its site keeps separate tracks for freight forwarders, rail transport, marine, offshore and subsea, and military and defence. Etihad Rail Company and AD Ports Group are among the exhibitors it names.
The 2026 post-show report counted 13,700 attendees from 123 countries, visiting 271 exhibitors. Visitors came from EPC contracting, oil and gas, heavy industry and petrochemicals. The report also lists 401 Global Shipper Network members, the cargo owners whom carriers and forwarders travel to meet.
Breakbulk Middle East 2027 runs on Tuesday 2 and Wednesday 3 February. Doors open at 10am on both days, closing at 6pm on Tuesday and 5pm on Wednesday. Last year's edition sat later in the week, from Wednesday 4 to Thursday 5 February 2026.
The 2027 show fills Halls 4 to 8 and the Pavilion at DWTC, Sheikh Zayed Road. The event began in Abu Dhabi in 2015 and moved to Dubai in 2019.
Breakbulk's venue service orders close in January: in 2026 the early-bird date was 7 January and temporary staff orders shut on 20 January. We check each 2027 date in the exhibitor manual. Custom stands need six to ten weeks, modular ones three to five. Inside five weeks, call +971 50 173 8408 for a modular build from Dubai stock.
Planning timeline
Ten weeks before opening
Custom brief naming each cargo type, vessel and meeting table
Eight weeks before opening
Stand drawings set against the 2027 exhibitor manual
Five weeks before opening
Final week to order a modular Breakbulk stand
Four weeks before opening
Power, rigging and internet orders lodged ahead of the January cut-offs
Build-up days
Models lit, fleet screens loaded and meeting tablets synced inside DWTC
Voyage chartering has its own workshop at Breakbulk Middle East, and charter talks need seated tables more than open floor. Our Dubai workshop makes custom joinery, and modular systems come from stock.
In 2026 the DWTC Wi-Fi kept each connection alive for two hours at most, so a stand relying on it drops out. We load route maps, fleet lists and terminal films onto each Dynamic LED Wall and kiosk before build-up.
Shippers and project owners were a visitor job function in the 2026 report. Event Registration & Badging Systems publish your meeting slots and check guests in at your counter. Each contact is tagged as shipper, EPC, forwarder or port.
Breakbulk's second day closes an hour earlier than the first, at 5pm. Our engineer powers up every screen before each 10am opening and stays until your last meeting leaves.
Out-of-gauge cargo, wider or taller than a container allows, is daily work for Breakbulk visitors. An Interactive Kiosk takes a piece's dimensions and weight, then lists the vessels or trailers in your fleet able to carry it.
Chartering management was among the job functions in the organiser's 2026 visitor profile. A Dynamic LED Wall lists each vessel with its cargo capacity and next open date, so a charterer can ask about a ship by name.
Rail transport has its own sector track at this show. On a Dynamic LED Table, a shipper traces a route inland from the port and sees which legs go by rail freight.
The 2026 report listed five cargo types handled: containers, bulk, Ro-Ro, liquids and military. A Rotating Cube gives each type you carry its own face and turns to the one a visitor asks about.
Breakbulk's exhibitor manual is a downloadable PDF covering key deadlines, suppliers and contractors, and health and safety. The organiser sets the date for space-only stand drawings there. We mark every heavy model, hanging point and circuit on the set we submit for you.
Badges and registration have their own section of the manual, apart from exhibitor rules. Lazulite registers each crew member through it, quoting your stand number and hall.
In 2026 electricity came only through the GES Exhibitor Webshop, and DWTC Event Services was the sole provider of top and primary rigging. Build-up power needed its own order that year. Our team lists the power, rigging and internet your stand draws, then places each order for you through those channels or their 2027 equivalents.
Send your cargo types, the vessels or terminals to feature and your hall, and we plan around meeting space.
Our designers mark loads and circuits on the drawings, then file them by the date the exhibitor manual sets.
Terminal models, route tables and fleet screens run together in our workshop before they travel to Sheikh Zayed Road.
Crew assemble the stand in finished sections at DWTC, and an engineer stays from Tuesday's opening until the final Wednesday meeting.
Breakdown starts when the halls close on Wednesday 3 February; your meeting log follows next morning.
Closed meeting rooms and terminal or vessel models are the largest cost lines on most Breakbulk stands we price. Breakbulk exhibitors typically pay AED 1,000 to 2,000 modular, per square metre, while bespoke DWTC joinery typically runs AED 1,500 to 3,500 apiece.
Stand space is booked with the organiser through the Book a Stand enquiry on middleeast.breakbulk.com, which publishes no space rates. Our price covers the build, technology and engineers. GES power, DWTC rigging, internet and 5% UAE VAT are billed separately, and we file those orders for you.
Breakbulk lasts two days, so an indoor LED video wall typically hires for AED 300 to 650 daily for every square metre of screen. An eight square metre fleet board therefore comes to a typical AED 4,800 to 10,400 for both days.
Budget bands
Compact
Agents and forwarders on about 12 square metres, budgeting AED 30,000 to 70,000 for two Breakbulk days, a typical range
Standard
Carriers and terminal operators near 36 square metres, typical outlay AED 80,000 to 200,000 per edition
Flagship
Port group islands near 100 square metres, with typical totals of AED 300,000 to 650,000 at DWTC
Ranges checked: November 2026
Pricing note: These ranges are indicative, for planning only. Your final quote depends on your requirements, stand size, show duration and the resources your stand needs. They exclude organiser space, venue charges for power, rigging and internet, and VAT.
Rent vs custom
Rent
Modular Exhibition Stands and hired screens for a two-day show
Custom build
Joinery and models made for your own terminal or fleet
Dubai World Trade Centre hosts Breakbulk Middle East in 2027, and it is a venue where Lazulite builds. Our crews know how its Event Services team handles rigging requests.
Port groups at Breakbulk often want a terminal model, a fleet screen and a meeting room together. Lazulite makes all three from its 40+ products, under one project manager.
With 2,152 people in Breakbulk's 2026 conference and workshop sessions, we schedule your stand meetings around the Heavy Lift and chartering workshops.
Trusted by
Three weeks before Breakbulk, Messe Frankfurt Middle East's security show fills DWTC from 12 to 14 January 2027.
Naval and land defence exhibitors gather at ADNEC Centre in late January, 25 to 29 January 2027.
Abu Dhabi's energy exhibition has fixed 1 to 4 November 2027 for its next edition.
Can't find your answer? Speak with our Dubai team.
No. The organiser names EPCs, energy companies, freight forwarders, ports, carriers and equipment providers as its audience. Its 2026 report also counted visitors from mining and petrochemicals. Breakbulk carriers are one exhibitor group among several, so plan for the cargo owners you want to meet.
Let's build it together
Pick the cargo story you want shippers to ask about, such as a terminal, a fleet or a heavy lift route. Send it with your stand number for a first concept and an indicative cost range, fixed as a quote once you approve the design. Venue orders close in January, so call +971 50 173 8408 before the New Year.
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