عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Business

Saudi Arabia Establishes Largest Regional Port for Importing, Processing Grains

Flour mill worker. Asharq Al-Awsat
Flour mill worker. Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
20
TT

Saudi Arabia Establishes Largest Regional Port for Importing, Processing Grains

Flour mill worker. Asharq Al-Awsat
Flour mill worker. Asharq Al-Awsat

The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) and SALIC, the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, a Public Investment Fund owned company, signed an agreement through video conferencing to lease a land in Yanbu Commercial Port to be used to develop the Kingdom’s largest and first grain terminal.

With a land mass of 313,000 square meters, the terminal will be importing, processing and exporting grains in the Kingdom in two phases, and with a total capacity of 5 million tons annually.

The ceremony was attended by Minister of Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) Eng. Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Mohsen al-Fadhli and Minister of Transport Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, and was signed by Eng. Saad bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalb, President of MAWANI and the CEO of SALIC, Eng. Sulaiman bin Abdul Rahman Al-Rumaih.

Commenting on the signing, Al-Jasser, who is Chairman of Mawani’s Board of Directors, said: “The Yanbu grain project aims to build the first regional center and logistic platform for importing, processing and exporting grains in KSA, taking advantage of the Yanbu commercial port’s exceptional location on the Red Sea coast and the competitive advantage its provides given its proximity to local and regional markets in the Red Sea Basin and the Horn of Africa.”

“This partnership plays a vital role in the ports and logistic services sector, given they are the main enablers of many key industries and sectors, including the food security sector,” he added.

“It also goes in line with MAWANI’s strategic objectives of fully utilizing the huge absorptive capacity in Saudi ports and raising the percentage of private sector investment in the port sector to 90% by 2030. By doing this it will serve the establishment of various development projects that contribute to achieving added value to the national economy, and supporting the investment landscape and commercial traffic in the Kingdom.”

“This regional project will support the operational traffic in the Yanbu Commercial Port, attract additional international shipping lines, and increase investment in the logistic services sector which will bring about significant growth in operational traffic and the increase in the number of ships that lead the port,” Al-Jasser concluded.

One of SALIC’s key strategic objectives is to significantly contribute to the import of basic commodities that are in line with the food security strategy in the Kingdom. Furthermore, the company aims to invest in supply chains and ports in Saudi and countries where SALIC holds investments to ensure the sustainability of the supply of all basic commodities.

For its part, one of MAWANI’s strategic objectives is to partner with public and private sector organizations to support the Kingdom's ports in becoming the leading regional and international ports and providing an efficient, high capacity, integrated port network.

This will significantly support the Kingdom's economic growth plans, stimulate the logistics services industry and global supply chains, and position Saudi Arabia as a global logistical hub and link to the three continents, in line with Vision 2030.

Most Viewed

 
Business

Anger Against Trump Is Forecast to Cost the US International Visitors 

Replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed for sale in a tourist shop in lower Manhattan on March 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)
Replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed for sale in a tourist shop in lower Manhattan on March 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)
TT
20
TT

Anger Against Trump Is Forecast to Cost the US International Visitors 

Replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed for sale in a tourist shop in lower Manhattan on March 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)
Replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed for sale in a tourist shop in lower Manhattan on March 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)

Anger over the Trump administration’s tariffs and rhetoric will likely cause international travel to the US to fall even further than expected this year, an influential travel forecasting company said Tuesday.

Tourism Economics said it expects the number of people arriving in the US from abroad to decline by 9.4% this year. That’s almost twice the 5% drop the company forecast at the end of February.

At the beginning of the year, Tourism Economics predicted a booming year for international travel to the US, with visits up 9% from 2024.

But Tourism Economics President Adam Sacks said high-profile lockups of European tourists at the US border in recent weeks have chilled international travelers. Potential visitors have also been angered by tariffs, Trump's stance toward Canada and Greenland, and his heated White House exchange with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“With each policy development, each rhetorical missive, we’re just seeing unforced error after unforced error in the administration,” Sacks said. “It has a direct impact on international travel to the US.”

The decline will have consequences for airlines, hotels, national parks and other sites frequented by tourists.

Tourism Economics expects travel from Canada to plummet 20% this year, a decline that will be acutely felt in border states like New York and Michigan but also popular tourist destinations like California, Nevada and Florida.

The US Travel Association, a trade group, has also warned about Canadians staying away. Even a 10% reduction in travel from Canada could mean 2.0 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses, the group said in February.

Other travel-related companies have noted worrying signs. At its annual shareholder meeting on Monday, Air Canada said bookings to the US were down 10% for the April-September period compared to the same period a year ago.

Sacks said he now expects foreign visitors to spend $9 billion less in the US compared to 2024, when international tourism to the country rose 9.1%.

“The irony is that the tariffs are being put in place to help right the trade deficit, but they're harming the trade balance by causing fewer international travelers to come and spend money here,” Sacks said.

Sacks said international arrivals had been getting close to returning to 2019 numbers, before the coronavirus pandemic halted most travel. Now he thinks they won't get back to that level until 2029.