Saudi Arabia’s rating recently upsurge to be at 70.68 from 70.13 as witnessed during the corresponding quarter the previous year, on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) Liner Shipping Connectivity Index for the third quarter of 2021. It has thus consolidated its position as the topmost priority as the best-connected nation.
This has been made possible as an outcome for their sustained efforts for boosting the logistics affordability, bolstering its position in global maritime transport networks.
Saudi Arabia’s current position graph upsurge is due to the supervision of Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI), under whom, the nation has honed the focus on further evolving its ports and transportation infrastructure, mounting line shipping connectivity besides enlightening border and customs procedures, as well as curbing out the trade budgets.
The firm also stated out that, for gathering out the resolution of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy, the Authority has been endorsing, as well as is supportive in enhancement of logistical, operational capacity-creating efforts in the Kingdom’s nine ports.
The firm MAWANI also announced accomplishment of unveiling five latest shipping routes over the preceding two years, that comprises of the IO3 line that was unveiled in January this year to link Jeddah Islamic Port with the Indian Ocean and northern European ports.
As per the firm’s statement, the current lanes have impacted to the upsurging of the total worth of containers touching by 116% to reach 418,462 TEUs between January and September 2021.
Statement from H.E. Omar Hariri, President of the Saudi Ports Authority
H.E. Omar Hariri, President of the Saudi Ports Authority, commented on the announcement that, “Saudi Arabia’s continuing solid performance on UNCTAD’s index since 2019 signifies its distinguished position as a country increasingly connected to the world and global economy. Through infrastructural upgrades and operational capability enhancements, our national ports have significantly improved the Kingdom’s maritime connectivity and competitiveness. At MAWANI, we take pride in our contributions to these remarkable accomplishments and would like to extend our deepest gratitude to H.E. the Minister of Transport and Logistics Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser for his leadership and extensive support of our ongoing endeavours.”
H.E. Hariri further added that, “We remain committed to furthering our efforts to reach new successes as envisaged in Vision 2030 by bolstering our ports’ capabilities. We are keen on capitalizing on the Kingdom’s opportunistic position at the crossroads of three continents to position it as a leading global logistics hub and contribute to the growth of the national economy in general and the local ports sector in particular.”
The UNCTAD index measures a nation’s level of integration into global liner shipping networks every quarter and aims to further aiding all nations identify hurdles and discovering the opportunities to develop and progress their performance in logistics services. As per the firm’s interim reports, the Liner Shipping Connectivity Index comprises of six elements featuring the number of scheduled ship calls per week in the nation, overall arranged capacity offered at the nation in standard units, the number of regular liner shipping services from as well as to the nation.
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