Saudi Arabia has set up a new land and sea trade corridor to the UAE, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and airspace restrictions upend cargo movements in the Gulf.
The Saudi Ports Authority, known as Mawani, announced a tie-up with the UAE’s Gulftainer to boost connectivity between Dammam in the kingdom’s Eastern province and Sharjah in the UAE.
Saudi Arabia has also signed agreements with four international shipping lines to provide capacity of over 63,000 containers between its west coast and regional and international destinations, and exempted some ships from certain documentation requirements. The Saudi Railway Company is also being allowed to operate container trains at more stations.
All this could help the kingdom get closer to its aim of becoming a regional trade and logistics hub, which was a key part of its prewar economic diversification strategy. The need to cooperate on logistics is also helping to reset fractured relations with the UAE — just last month the two countries were in a diplomatic spat that threatened to impact trade and investment flows between them.