Port companies across the Middle East continue their investment in logistics and infrastructure to efficiently capture trade, and as local capacities are bolstered, overseas acquisitions are rapidly extending the reach and visibility of regional brands on the global stage.

The proximity of the Middle East to major trade lanes has long been promoted as a strength ripe to be capitalized on and a reason for investment in logistics; as pressure to diversify from oil and gas grows, logistics has become a clear strategic target for companies and governments across the region.

One of the most high-profile signals of the importance of logistics to the region was its prominence in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. The national strategy highlighted the Kingdom’s position at the crossroads of trade between Asia, Europe, and Africa, and set the ambition of developing a unique logistics hub integrated with the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Since Vision 2030 was announced in 2016, investment in Saudi Arabia’s ports has increased and brought the nation closer to its logistics ambitions. It may be some time before the realization of Oxagon, the planned 4.3 mile-wide floating city with an automated port and logistics network under the NEOM mega-project, but concrete advances have been made on both Saudi coastlines and between.

At King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam, on the Middle East Gulf, the first half of 2024 saw a 37.4% increase in throughput at the terminal to 1.5m teu, and an 87.9% increase in transhipment volumes to 37,806 containers. The second half got off to a strong start too, setting a new record for container handling on a single vessel, with 20,645 containers moved across import and export.

The achievements at King Abdulaziz Port come as a $1.9bn investment project is under way to upgrade facilities across two container terminals at the port under the build-operate-transfer deal with Saudi Global Ports.

Saudi Global Ports signed a record-breaking deal with Chinese company SANY to supply King Abdulaziz Port with 80 electric trucks—the largest contract ever signed by the manufacturer—and 15 rubber-tyred gantry cranes were recently delivered to further improve efficiency.

Extending its reach beyond the Kingdom, Red Sea Gateway Terminal announced a 22-year concession with the Chittagong Port Authority to operate the new 500,000 teu capacity Patenga Container Terminal, establishing RSGT Bangladesh as Bangladesh’s first international terminal operator.

Despite the current rerouting of many vessels around the Red Sea to avoid the Bab al-Mandab Strait, investment also continues on Saudi Arabia’s west coast, where DP World and Mawani broke ground earlier this year on a 415,000 sq m logistics park at Jeddah Islamic Port.

In February 2024, investments of more than SAR1bn ($270m) at the Red Sea Gateway Terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port were completed, more than doubling the terminal area and increasing capacity from 2.5m teu to 6.2m teu. A deepened and widened northern channel now has a wider turning circle and serves 11 berths with a total length of 2.6 km, equipped with 24 ship-to-shore cranes.

By Seatrade Maritime.

Source: Seatrade Maritime. https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/ports-logistics/regional-infrastructure-global-reach. 23 September 2024.

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