Maersk, MAWANI break ground on logistics park at Jeddah Port
A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) and the Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) have started construction on Saudi Arabia’s largest Integrated Logistics Park at Jeddah Islamic Port.
The ground breaking ceremony was attended by the President of the Saudi Ports Authority, Omar Bin Talal Hariri, the Danish Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Liselotte Plesner, the CEO of Zamil Construction, Abdullah Al Zamil, and the Managing Director of Maersk Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Shihab – as well as Maersk’s customers and partners.
Spread over an area of 225,000 square metres, the greenfield project will be the first of its kind at the Jeddah Islamic Port, offering an array of solutions aimed at simplifying the supply chains of Maersk’s customers in the Kingdom.
The project is expected to create more than 2,500 direct and indirect jobs in Saudi Arabia and will represent a $346 million investment.
The bonded and non-bonded warehousing and distribution (W&D) facility will cover more than 70 per cent of the total area of the Integrated Logistics Park. The W&D section will have several different sections to accommodate general warehousing.
The facility will also have a dedicated eCommerce fulfilment centre to cater to the rapid growth of eCommerce in Saudi Arabia.
The remaining part of the park will act as a hub for transshipment, air freight, and LCL cargo, with the Integrated Logistics Park able to handle annual volumes of close to 200,000 TEU across different products.
“We have come a long way in realising our strategy to offer integrated logistics to our customers,” said Mohammad Shihab, Managing Director, Maersk Saudi Arabia.
“Today’s ground breaking ceremony is yet another milestone in building a logistics ecosystem that strengthens our position as an enabler of global logistics, while also focusing on our core targets around decarbonising logistics to achieve net zero by 2040.”
The Integrated Logistics Park will be powered 100 per cent by solar energy generated from rooftop solar panels spread over 65,000 square metres. The trucks used for transportation at the park will also be fully electric vehicles.
The design of the facility utilises higher storage density, mechanised pallet-in-out solutions, a product-to-man pick-n-pack strategy, and optimised flows, improving productivity by approximately 50 per cent and effectively reducing emissions.
Finally, the facility has a provision for additional space for E-com, value-added service (VAS), and Omni Channel Fulfilment across all storage types.
Maersk expects an abrupt decline from booming profits in 2022 as the container shipping bull run comes to an end.
Revenue in 2022 increased by 32 per cent to $81.5 billion, while EBIT (operating profit) soared to $30.9 billion, or 57 per cent year-on-year.
