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Report: Saudi competes with UAE over freight transportation

October 10, 2022 at 2:42 pm

The Saudi Arabia national flag [Chris McGrath/Getty Images]

The Saudi Public Investment Fund intends to establish a new company for cross-docking and transhipment logistics in the Red Sea, the French Africa Intelligence reported on Friday, noting that the Saudi Fund has been trying to recruit expertise working in the UAE; which is considered a regional pioneer in the field.

The French site said the Saudi fund, which manages assets estimated at $630 billion, is trying to hire consultants working in major shipping companies in Jebel Ali Port in Dubai and Khalifa Port in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi to work for the kingdom’s new company.

The fund has offered employees currently working in UAE ports, a lucrative $250 per hour.

According to the site, the job offer was presented to the employees of the shipping companies CMA CGM and Maersk, Mediterranean Shipping Company, Hapag-Lloyd and PSA International.

The fund hopes that the new entity will become a regional hub for cross– docking logistics services for container ships passing through the ports of Massawa and Assab in Eritrea, Port Sudan in Sudan, Djibouti and Berbera in Somalia, and Hudaydah and Aden in Yemen.

It is also working on establishing a fleet of feeder ships which, according to the French site, can be purchased from second hand markets mainly inGreece.

The site said Riyadh, after extending its sovereignty over the strategic islands of Tiran and Sanafir in the Red Sea, is trying to strengthen its presence in this trade route linking Europe to Asia and beyond.

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