Saudi Arabia Records 77.66 Pts in UN Maritime Index

 Islamic Port of Jeddah (SPA)
Islamic Port of Jeddah (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia Records 77.66 Pts in UN Maritime Index

 Islamic Port of Jeddah (SPA)
Islamic Port of Jeddah (SPA)

The Saudi maritime sector has recorded a significant uptick in the Q3 update of the UNCTAD’s Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI), scoring 77.66 points in comparison to 76.16 points a quarter earlier.

The Minister of Transport and Logistics Services and Chairman of the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani), Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, hailed the Kingdom’s Leadership for providing every support possible in fulfilling the nation’s ambitions of becoming a global logistics and economic powerhouse.

Commending Mawani’s crucial role in laying the groundwork for the latest success with the addition of 24 cargo services across 2023, Al-Jasser added that the achievement will further enhance Saudi Arabia’s competitiveness on the world scale, boost foreign trade volumes, unlock new economic possibilities, and attract world-class investments to the Kingdom’s shores.

A key milestone in the national maritime regulator’s efforts to cement the Kingdom’s standing on the global stage and advance its ranking in major international indices, the LSCI feat comes no sooner after Saudi Arabia grabbed the 38th position among 160 countries this year in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and the 16th spot in the 2023 edition of the Lloyd’s List 100 Ports for its annual throughput volumes.

The LSCI is an indicator that measures countries’ integration with global liner shipping networks on a quarterly basis.

Aimed at identifying challenges, discovering opportunities, and bettering performance on the logistics front, the index is composed of five components including the total number of shipping lines serving a country, largest vessel size (in TEUs), number of services connecting a country to other destinations, number of deployed vessels in a country, and total vessel capacity (in TEUs).



Aramco, Gulf Cryo Cooperate in Testing Lower-carbon Hydrogen

The initiative will facilitate testing Aramco’s newly-developed technologies at pilot and pre-commercial scale. Photo: Aramco
The initiative will facilitate testing Aramco’s newly-developed technologies at pilot and pre-commercial scale. Photo: Aramco
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Aramco, Gulf Cryo Cooperate in Testing Lower-carbon Hydrogen

The initiative will facilitate testing Aramco’s newly-developed technologies at pilot and pre-commercial scale. Photo: Aramco
The initiative will facilitate testing Aramco’s newly-developed technologies at pilot and pre-commercial scale. Photo: Aramco

Saudi Aramco has signed an agreement with Gulf Cryo, a regional leader of end-to-end industrial gases and decarbonization solutions in the MENAT region, to conduct testing of lower-carbon hydrogen and carbon capture & utilization technologies under Saudi Arabian climate conditions enabling future commercial deployment.

The agreement underscores Aramco’s desire to develop a lower carbon emission future through investing in research and technology development, to support business growth and meet global energy demand while reducing scope 1 and scope 2 GHG emissions to net-zero by 2050 from its wholly own operated assets.

The initiative will facilitate testing Aramco’s newly-developed technologies at pilot and pre-commercial scale. The testing and assessment will be conducted at Gulf Cryo's newly established Applications and Technologies Center (ATC) at King Salman Energy Park (SPARK), a press statement said Thursday.

Aramco’s senior vice president of Technology Oversight and Coordination (TOC), Ali A. Al-Meshari, said: “This collaboration is important in advancing our early stage technologies to the next phase of development, which will help create local ecosystem for accelerating technology deployment leveraging in-kingdom talent and infrastructure.”

As for Gulf Cryo Vice Chairman, Eng. Abdel Salam Al Mazro, he said that “the project will leverage the capabilities of our Center to deliver groundbreaking lower-carbon hydrogen and decarbonization solutions, tailored to the unique needs of Aramco.”

In addition to driving technological advancements in decarbonization, this collaboration supports Saudi Arabia’s strategy to enhance localization and build local capabilities. The facility is planned to be ready for commissioning by the end of 2025, the statement added.