RIYADH: Jeddah Islamic Port has added two new shipping services as Saudi Arabia aims to expand its global reach to unlock new investment opportunities.
The Saudi Ports Authority, also known as Mawani, announced that Denmark’s shipping firm Maersk added AE12 and AE7 shipping services to the facility.
The two new shipping services fall in line with Mawani’s commitment to drive impactful collaborations with strategic partners like Maersk and Red Sea Gateway Terminal, which will in turn boost the Kingdom’s standing in international indices such as the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s Liner Shipping Connectivity Index.
The AE12 shipping service links Jeddah to 13 global hubs across Southern Europe, Africa, and East Asia through a fleet of 12 ships with an accumulated capacity of 15,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.
On the other hand, with a capacity of 18,000 TEUs and 12 vessels, the AE7 route includes calls at 15 ports, including Ningbo-Zhoushan, Shanghai and Nansha.
Tangier, Hamburg and Felixstowe are all also part of the AE7’s route.
On a similar note, Mawani is on track to establish an integrated center worth over SR2 billion ($533 million) as part of a pilot project to supply ships with fuel at the Yanbu Industrial Port.
This aligns well with the efforts made by the Saudi Ministry of Energy to increase the Kingdom’s share of fuel supply for ships transiting to 10 million tons.
It also falls in line with the authority’s goals to increase the number of logistic zones to 30 by 2030, thereby contributing to the consolidation of the Kingdom’s position as a global logistics center to Asia, Africa and Europe.
With an area of 393,000 sq. meters, the new center aims to establish tanks for storing, trading and mixing petroleum materials.
Earlier this month, Mazen Al-Bunyan, CEO of Standard Chartered in Saudi Arabia, said the Kingdom’s logistics initiatives are helping to drive the Middle East “into a new era of trade and economic prosperity.”
He added: “The Kingdom aspires to become the next global logistics hub and has pledged to make its economy more sustainable and innovative.”
