Saudi Arabia is continuing to pour funding into logistics network developments in the Near East nation in accordance with its Saudi Vision 2030 plan, with announcements released this week about deals with Ceva Logistics and with DB Schenker.
The German logistics and transportation provider DB Schenker yesterday announced an alliance with Kaden Companies, a Kentucky-based real estate development firm, to enhance logistics infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The project will accommodate various verticals, storage modes, and temperature-controlled spaces, according to published reports.
And on Tuesday, Marseille, France-based Ceva, which is the logistics arm of transportation giant CMA CGM, said it has signed a Joint Venture (JV) agreement with Almajdouie Logistics, a logistics provider based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Almajdouie provides services including freight forwarding, e-commerce, 3PL, custom clearance, distribution, terminals, road transportation, warehouses, and heavy transportation.
If the project is approved, Ceva would control the majority of the newly established joint venture, which will have around 2,000 employees in KSA and a local fleet of more than 2,000 assets. The venture would target various industry verticals ranging from the conventional Saudi energy and petrochemicals industry to automotive, e-commerce, consumer and retail, the partners said.
According to Ceva, the move would also support the Saudi Vision 2030 plan, which seeks to build a seamless logistics foundation necessary for the nation’s industrial modernization, since most of the cargo used for Saudi Arabia’s giga projects will come from overseas. The Saudi Ports Authority invested $4.5 billion in the Kingdom’s maritime, logistics and port sector in 2023 alone, and has signed agreements to create new logistics parks on both coasts of Saudi Arabia – in the East at King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam, and at Jeddah Islamic Port in the West.
