DP World and the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) are collaborating on a logistics park in Jeddah. The project aims to boost the city’s status as a trade hub in the Middle East. Construction on the logistics park at Jeddah Islamic Port has begun, with DP World and the Saudi Ports Authority overseeing the project. The park, which will be Saudi Arabia’s largest integrated logistics park, is expected to cost $240 million and cover an area of 415,000m2.
With 185,000m2 of warehousing space, the greenfield site will accommodate over 390,000 pallet positions. It aims to offer customers a seamless flow of goods to and from Jeddah.
Plans for the park were unveiled in 2022. The 30-year concession agreement, signed in 2020, involves DP World investing approximately $800 million to expand and modernize the Jeddah port. The port currently handles approximately 60% of the Kingdom’s seaborne imports.
The greenfield site will accommodate over 390,000 pallet positions
The park, which will undergo development in two phases, has a scheduled operational date of the second quarter of 2025. A solar rooftop capable of generating 20MW of renewable energy will power it.
“Jeddah Logistics Park, strategically located on the vital Asia-Europe shipping route, will provide world-class multimodal connectivity and market access for our customers,” Sultan bin Sulayem, chairperson and chief executive of DP World, said during the park’s groundbreaking ceremony.
The 30-year concession agreement, signed in 2020, involves DP World investing approximately $800 million
It will also play an important role in “supporting the ambitious aims of Saudi Vision 2030,” he said, referring to the kingdom’s ambitious economic strategy to diversify away from oil.
DP World announced that the modernization project of the Jeddah port’s South Container Terminal is reaching its final phase. This project will increase its handling capacity to up to five million twenty-foot equivalent units. The completion of the project is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024.
It is expected that DP World’s investments will further boost operations at the port, which is located on the Red Sea and is the largest in Saudi Arabia. According to DP World, the port handles about 4.5 million TEU annually.
The port handles about 4.5 million TEU annually
It has continued to expand its footprint regionally and globally, and counts Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, as “always having been a deeply important market,” Bin Sulayem said.
Mawani’s president, Omar bin Talal Hariri, stated that Jeddah Logistics Park would facilitate the expansion of logistics centers in Saudi ports. This expansion would be achieved through partnerships with major national and international companies.
In the past eight months, DP World has opened 100 freight-forwarding offices worldwide, including in Dammam, Jeddah, and Riyadh. They plan to open 80 more offices by the end of 2024. The move aims to provide customers with efficient access to cost-effective and reliable supply chains while helping them navigate the complexities of global trade.
Arabic 
English