RIYADH: As part of its efforts to strengthen the Kingdom’s maritime and logistics sectors, the Saudi Ports Authority last year established eight logistics parks, launched 28 new maritime services and picked up a handful of awards.
All of the developments were in line with the national strategy for transport and logistics, the authority, also known as Mawani, said on Tuesday.
On the Lloyd’s port rankings for 2023, Saudi Arabia moved up eight places from the previous year to 16th in the world in terms of annual container throughput volumes, while on the World Bank’s logistics efficiency index it rose 17 places to 38th.
In the final quarter of last year, the Kingdom achieved the greatest improvement of any country in the region on the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s Liner Shipping Connectivity Index.
Mawani last year signed agreements worth more than SR4 billion ($1.07 billion) to develop several new logistics parks, including Danish shipping company Maersk’s largest integrated facility in the Middle East at Jeddah Islamic Port.
Another deal involved the development of a park in partnership with French shipping company CMA CGM — also at Jeddah Islamic Port — and other facilities at King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam and King Fahad Industrial Port in Yanbu.
To support international trade, Mawani added 28 new maritime services, connecting Saudi ports to eastern and western ports. It also established the Seaman Club at Jeddah Islamic Port for use by ships’ crews.
At the International Green Shipping Summit, held in Rotterdam in February, the authority, represented by the Jeddah Islamic Port, was named Best Seaport of the Year 2022. The same port was also named port of the year in the ShipTek awards.
