SAUDI ARABIA: Ports Authority Launches New Shipping Route to East Asia

The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) has launched a new shipping route to East Asia. The new service, announced on 15 May 2020, will provide a regular weekly sailing to a number of East Asian ports, and will be operated out of Jubail Commercial Port through global shipping group, THE Alliance.

According to a THE Alliance press release published on 24 February, the new shipping loop will connect the ports of Qingdao, China; Pusan, South Korea; Shanghai, China; Singapore; Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates (UAE); Jubail and Dammam, Saudi Arabia; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Kelang, Malaysia; and Hong Kong. The route is one of three new services planned by the group to connect Middle Eastern ports with the Far East, originally planned to start in April this year.

A MAWANI release states: “The new shipping line will contribute to linking the Jubail Commercial Port with East Asian ports, in addition to opening direct lines for shipping and exporting national products, increasing the quantities of handling in Saudi ports, in addition to facilitating and accelerating direct import and export operations from East Asian countries and increasing trade exchange.”

Saudi Arabia is building up its trade and logistics capacities aggressively, as it restructures its economy away from an over-reliance on oil, under its national ‘Vision 2030’ development programme. The Saudi Ports Authority also announced earlier, on 31 March, another new container shipping line for East Africa. The JEDDEX service provides a weekly sailing between Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Kenya, docking at Mogadishu, Mombasa and King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu, connecting with shipments from Jeddah Islamic Port.

THE Alliance is one of the three biggest shipping alliances in the world, comprising South Korea’s Hyundai Merchant Marine; Hapag-Lloyd of Germany; Ocean Network Express (ONE) of Japan; and Yang Ming of Taiwan.