Mawani and Maersk break ground on $346mn logistics park
The comprehensive logistics zone at the Islamic port of Jeddah will support the growth of the logistics industry
The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) and Maersk have broken ground on what’s billed as the latter’s largest comprehensive logistics zone in the Middle East. The Maersk Logistics Park, which will come up on a 225,000sqm area in Jeddah Islamic port, is being built at a total investment of US $346mn.
Mawani and Maersk first signed the agreement for the project at the end of 2021, and work on the project is expected to be complete in Q1 2024.
According to a statement from Mawani, the logistics park is one of the company’s key initiatives aimed at developing and providing investment opportunities in logistics zones for the private sector, and increasing the number of logistics zones that deal with re-exports to 30 by 2030. This is said to be in line with the goals of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy, which aims to enhance the Kingdom’s position as a global logistics center and a hub for three continents.
The facility is said to offer several logistics solutions that connect and facilitate the movement of supply chains, and deals with annual volumes of up to 200,000 containers of different products.
In mid November 2021, Mawani signed an agreement to build a new cruise terminal at King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam and, in mid February 2022, Mawani and Bahri inked a deal to develop a new logistics park at Jeddah Islamic Port.
As per the statement, the zone will include storage and distribution areas that accommodate merchandise intended for export and import, warehouses to accommodate refrigerated food products, as well as a re-shipping area, air shipping, LCL cargo shipping, and an e-commerce execution centre, with high-storage intensity designs, and leading mechanical solutions. Once operational, it will provide over 2,500 direct and indirect jobs, it stated.
The zone is expected to leverage renewable energy and will apply decarburisation solutions to achieve zero-carbon rates by 2040. It will be 100% powered by solar power generated by solar panels on rooftops, spread over 65,000sqm, and trucks used for transport will be electric, to effectively reduce emissions.
The zone will operate according to an advanced warehouse management system that applies modern technologies and digital solutions to manage inventory efficiently, and provide unit-level tracking. An advanced dashboard will be provided for improving competencies and giving a competitive advantage to importers, exporters and navigational agents, and an in-house women’s academy will offer training programs dedicated to women, Mawani pointed out.
The comprehensive logistics zone at the Islamic port of Jeddah will support the growth of the logistics industry, contribute significantly to the economy and increase the volume of the Kingdom’s non-oil export share by 50%, creating growing career opportunities in the logistics sector, the statement concluded.
In early September 2022, Maersk Kanoo UAE and Dubai South signed an agreement for a new 162,000sqft W&D facility.
