Saudi Arabia adds two shipping services to strengthen links to East Africa

Trade between Saudi Arabia and East Africa is set to grow thanks to two new inter-regional shipping services operated by Mediterranean Shipping Co.The transport routes have been announced by the kingdom’s port authority, also known as Mawani, and will take trade along the routes from East Africa to the Red Sea and from the Red Sea to the Islamic port of Jeddah, the Saudi press agency reported.

This move is in line with the framework of initiatives launched by Mawani to achieve its strategic goals of further improving the indicator of maritime navigation network connectivity with global shipping services and shipping lines.

The new services also align with the goals of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy by cementing the Kingdom’s position as a global logistics center and hub between three continents.

The weekly direct service from East Africa to the Red Sea connects the ports of Jeddah Islamic and King Abdullah to the port of Djibouti with a transit time of just two days.

It also connects the Kenyan port of Mombasa with a transit time of nine days and the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam with a transit time of 12 days.

The new shipping service has a capacity of 2,500 standard containers from 730 ships and guarantees competitive transport times that meet the demands of importers and exporters.

The Red Sea shipping service connects the Islamic Port of Jeddah and the Port of King Abdullah directly to Port Sudan with a transit time of one day, twice a month.

With a capacity of 1,000 standard containers, the Red Sea Service is intended to increase the reliability of the schedule and the flow of goods.

Just last month, Mawani announced the approval of five new shipping services that will help connect the kingdom with as many as 43 international ports, according to a statement.