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Saudi Arabia’s MAWANI Expands by Announcing Direct Jeddah-Djibouti Shipping Service

The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) has announced a new direct shipping service connecting Saudi Arabia to Djibouti (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) has announced a new direct shipping service connecting Saudi Arabia to Djibouti (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia’s MAWANI Expands by Announcing Direct Jeddah-Djibouti Shipping Service

The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) has announced a new direct shipping service connecting Saudi Arabia to Djibouti (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) has announced a new direct shipping service connecting Saudi Arabia to Djibouti (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Ports Authority, MAWANI, has announced a new direct shipping service connecting Saudi Arabia to Djibouti in an important development that serves to leverage the significant potential of the Kingdom’s ports, bolster its petrochemicals exports and transshipment, and further expand its maritime network around the globe.

Connecting Jeddah Islamic port to Djibouti, with over 100 containers shipped weekly, the new service is a valuable new link between Saudi Arabia and the East African continent, promoting and facilitating intra-regional trade and enhancing opportunities for investment in the Kingdom, as well as supporting leading container transport company Transmar.

The Jeddah-Djibouti service marks an important milestone in the development of Jeddah Islamic Port as a world-leading hub, further solidifying its status as a rising force in the maritime industry and one of three Saudi ports included in the 2021 edition of Lloyd’s List of Top 100 Ports.

The Kingdom ranks fifth in the world in container ship handling, according to the UNCTAD annual index for 2020. As a result of consistent expansion and development, Saudi Arabia is home to the largest port network in the Middle East, receiving 20-25 thousand ships annually.

Ongoing initiatives have seen the Authority partner with several major international shipping lines as it works to enable, expand and transform Saudi ports, fulfilling national strategic objectives for the development of transport and logistics services under Saudi Vision 2030, and securing the Kingdom’s position as a global hub.

Earlier this week, MAWANI, in coordination with the Saudi Global Ports Co., announced launching a new direct service from China to King Abdulaziz Port Dammam.

The new service is offered by a consortium of vessels deployed by Pacific International Lines (PIL), Regional Container Lines (RCL), and CULines (CUL), the authority said in a statement.

The move aims to strengthen MAWANI’s efforts to develop Saudi Arabia as a global leader in logistics and transportation, as well as boost the linking between Saudi ports to the other ports in the world.

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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."