Good morning, friends. We have a busy post-weekend issue for you this morning, with lots of big updates from the region on everything from railways to maritime shipping.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- Iran and Russia will build the Rasht-Astara railway, which will complete the 7.2k-km International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) — a network of ship, rail and road routes connecting South Asia to Europe and aiming to rival the Suez Canal.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Egypt rolls out the sixth phase of its export subsidy program: Egypt’s Export Development Fund approved rolling out a new phase for its export subsidy program allowing exporters to receive their subsidies in a single payment, according to a Trade Ministry statement. Export shipments made before 1 January, 2023 are eligible for subsidies in this phase and companies that submitted their applications prior to 1 April are set to be paid in July. Applications that will be submitted after that date, and before 1 June are set to be paid in August, according to the statement.

Remember: The Egyptian government’s spending on export subsidies will almost quadruple to EGP 28 bn in the coming fiscal year.

SCZone heads to China + Hong Kong for investment roadshow: Suez Canal Economic Zone CEO Walid Gamal El Din is in China and Hong Kong to drum up investments from Chinese investors and companies at the Egyptian-Chinese Investment Forum in Beijing, according to an SCZone statement. Gamal El Din is also scheduled to discuss possible cooperation with China’s Teda Group, which is already a chief industrial developer in the Sokhna Industrial Zone.

ICYMI: Gamal El Din was in the Netherlands last week to discuss possible cooperation with the Rotterdam port on green fuels, which includes a “green corridor” from Singapore to Rotterdam that would pass through the SCZone for green bunkering purposes. The SCZone’s roadshow comes as part of efforts to achieve its 2020-2025 strategy.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority has put off re-opening the Floating Bridge until further notice, according to a tweet. Traffic will remain closed in both directions so that tests can be carried out to assess safety and gauge the efficiency of recent maintenance work, the authority said.

SPEAKING OF BRIDGES-Abu Dhabi has a new bridge and new roads open in Al Reef area, Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Transport Centre said.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Tunisia plans to invest TND 36 bn (USD 11.7 bn) in rail transport by 2040, Agence Tunis Afrique Presse reported, citing Tunisian Transport Minister Rabi Mejid. This will involve purchasing 54 new vehicles for TND 540 mn and renovating and modernizing 50-80 light rail vehicles for an estimated TND 150-350 mn between 2024-2026. The Transport Ministry will also modernize old railway cars and purchase 600 new wagons for TND 300 mn. The investment is part of a package of 47 infrastructure projects valued at an estimated total of TND 68 bn.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Jordan’s Transport Minister Maher Abu Al Samen has called for establishing a logistics hub for goods in Jordan, according to state owned news agency Petra. The minister, speaking at the General Assembly and Board of Directors meetings of the Arab Union for Land Transport, said that the hub would benefit from Jordan’s strategic location.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Iraq to host regional ministers to discuss economic cooperation: Iraq is preparing to host a conference with regional transport ministers from the GCC, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Jordanto discuss prospects for economic cooperation, state-owned Iraqi News Agency quotes Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al Sudani as saying. At the conference, the date for which has yet to be determined, the transport ministers will discuss

Iraq’s Development Road Project, which aims to link Iraq’s Southern Faw Port to Turkey by rail.

DATA POINT #1- The UAE’s Etihad Airways reduced its carbon emissions by 42% between 2019 and 2022, according to its sustainability report (pdf). The airline’s carbon emissions fell to 5.28 mn tons in 2022, down from 9.1 mn tons in 2019, the report said.

DATA POINT #2–Egypt’s Transport Ministry will reportedly invest USD 4 bn in its river transport network as a means to ease traffic congestion, time, and costs, local news outlet Youm7 reports.Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir highlighted the benefits of river transport of goods as having low operational costs, less maintenance, and the possibility of cutting down on pollution, the news outlet writes.

Background: The Transport Ministry will invest a total of EGP 321 bn into its infrastructure in FY2023-24, up 4.6% y-o-y. Railways are getting EGP 4.2 bn to build and develop 164 railroads, and 166 stations. The ministry has already constructed two berths in Nubaria Canal worth EGP 263 mn, and converted two fixed bridges into mobile bridges for EGP 50 mn, as part of its river transport infrastructure developments, according to Youm7.

MARKET WATCH-

Fuel oil inventories at Fujairah’s oil hub spiked to a five-month high for a second straight week in the week leading up to 15 May, according to data published by S&P Global. Total inventories jumped 7.5% to 24.9 mn barrels, on the back of rising imports and a surge in jet fuel, diesel and other middle distillates. Total inventories are now up 20% since the end of 2022.

Indian oil imports from Middle East plummet as Russian oil flows surge: India’s record-high oil imports from Russia in April drastically reduced the proportion of oil imports from the Middle East and Africa to a 22-year low, Reutersreports. Refiners in India have welcomed Russian oil after some countries eschewed Russian products over the Ukrainian invasion. India’s oil imports from CIS countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia) made up 43.6% of its total oil purchases. This has reduced the country’s share of oil imports from the Middle East, which typically sources more than half of India’s oil imports, to around 44%. African oil accounted for 3.4% of India’s imports last month.

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index fell to a three-month low last week on the back of lower shipping rates across larger vessels, Reutersreports. The overall index — which takes into account the rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels — fell 1.3% to 1,384 points, its lowest since 19 April. The capesize index fell 1.7% to a more than three-week low, while the supramax index was also down by 8 points and panamax index fell by 1.1%.

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