Saudi Arabia aims to become one of the most important countries in the world in contributing to supply chains, announced Transport Minister Saleh al-Jasser.
Jasser inaugurated the 5th edition of the Supply Chain and Logistics Conference in Riyadh.
The conference, held under the theme "Towards a sustainable supply chain to boost the circular economy," featured several ministers, senior officials, and heads of companies operating in the supply chain and logistics sector.
The two-day conference will feature 64 speakers from different countries and over 100 entities from the public and private sectors. It aims to promote discussions on various supply chain and logistics issues.
Fifty-two agreements were signed to strengthen supply chains and logistics operations during the conference's opening session.
Over the course of the event, participants will discuss the flexibility and sustainability of supply chains for the transition towards a circular economy, the development of specialized supply chains within the Kingdom, and the role of global supply chains in enhancing distribution operations.
At the conference, the Logisti platform is one of the transport and logistics initiatives under the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP) that offers critical commercial activities through the land, sea, and rail transport sectors.
In his opening speech, Jasser said the Kingdom is witnessing successive and unprecedented leaps in the development of the transport and logistics sector with the support of the Saudi leadership.
He added that progress has been visible in the sector since Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, launched the National Transport and Logistics Strategy.
The Strategy seeks to transform Saudi Arabia into a global logistics hub by effectively utilizing its strategic location.
The Minister reviewed the significant growth and development in the performance and efficiency of the Saudi logistics sector and the substantial and promising opportunities in the sector's services and economies.
To enhance the efficiency of its work, the Crown Prince launched the Master Plan for Logistics Centers, which calls for the formation of 59 centers with a total area of more than 100 million square meters across the Kingdom.
Jasser pointed out that his Ministry also launched initiatives to enhance the sector's performance, re-engineer processes, and apply international best practices to consolidate the Kingdom's position as a global logistics hub.
The Saudi logistics sector witnessed notable achievements during 2023 after the Kingdom jumped 17 spots globally in the Logistics Performance Index issued by the World Bank, advancing from 55th to 38th position.
Jasser said international and local investors are keenly interested in the sector.
"In the past two years, many agreements were signed to establish 12 logistics parks," he remarked.
The logistic zones are located at Jeddah Islamic Port, Dammam's King Abdulaziz Port, and King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu with a total investment of approximately $1.11 billion and are set to create over 13,000 direct and indirect jobs in the logistics sector.
The Kingdom jumped eight spots internationally according to the ranking of the London-based maritime journal Lloyd's List classification of the world's 100 largest ports by container handling volumes.
Jasser said the Saudi railway sector has also made substantial progress, adding that over 12 million tons of goods have so far been transported via rail service in the Kingdom, representing a 13 percent growth compared to the same period in 2022.
He stressed that the expansion of rail transportation also helped reduce around 970,000 truck journeys on the roads.
In the first half of the year, the Kingdom's air transport sector also experienced substantial growth in air traffic, passenger numbers, and air cargo operations. It is aligned with the aviation strategy which aims to increase air cargo capacity to 4.5 million tons and expand air connections to 250 destinations by 2030.
The significant progress in the logistics sector came with the support and empowerment of Crown Prince Mohammed and his continuous support to strengthen the Kingdom's position as a global logistics center following the targets of the National Strategy for Transport and Logistics.
Jasser stressed that the transport and logistics services system integrates its efforts with the public and private sectors to enhance supply chains and improve the Kingdom's ranking among the top ten countries in the Logistics Performance Index by 2030.
