Major logistics hubs in GCC
The Middle East and North Africa region’s share of global freight forwarding decreased in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic after exceeding eight percent in 2019. As for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the sea freight segment is a significant part of the transportation and logistics industry. It has been under constant development to close the technological and infrastructure gap to other global seaport hubs. The region is investing in its warehouse automation technology – the market size is projected to grow to 1.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.Sea freight is the main logistics and transportation delivery method for the GCC countries. It is mainly used for exporting the region’s oil and gas products. The leading seaport hubs of the region are off the coast of Saudi Arabia, the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Kuwait. The largest port in Saudi Arabia in terms of land area is Ras Al Khair Industrial Port, while Jeddah Islamic Port had the highest number of loaded containers in the Kingdom’s ports. On the other hand, the UAE’s logistics industry is expected to expand to more than 30 billion U.S. dollars by 2026. The volume of air freight in Dubai airport exceeded two billion tons in 2021. Air-freight transport in UAE was forecast to continuously increase between 2022 and 2028 by six million ton-kms.
Top logistics brands in GCC
In the Middle East, DP World is the most valuable and powerful logistics brand. DP World is an Emirati global logistics firm headquartered in Dubai, UAE. It specializes in freight logistics, port terminal operations, marine services, and free trade zones. The brand witnessed the fastest growth in the industry, focusing on expanding its market share in faster-growing regions, including Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.Abu Dhabi Ports is the second most valuable in the sector based on its brand value. It is a subset of ADQ's portfolio, which includes a wide range of brands in the fields of real estate, financial services, healthcare, and hospitality. With its profitable operation in several clusters, Abu Dhabi Ports is well-positioned to accelerate its growth both locally and globally to promote integrated global trade to the country. The company successfully completed its initial public offering and began trading on the Abu Dhabi Exchange early in 2022
