Good morning, everyone. It’s been an eventful weekend, with a lot happening on the diplomacy front. Let’s dive in.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ and Turkey are holding talks over a proposed railway transiting Istanbul’s Yavuz Sultan Selim suspension bridge which links the Asian and European sides of the city, as part of a larger corridor linking the Middle East with Europe and Asia.

^^ We have everything on this story and more in the news well, below.

BUT FIRST-

Driving the news across the region: The Israeli military has launched retaliatory airstrikes in the Gaza Strip after Hamas gunmen killed at least 700 Israelis in a shock ground attack early on Saturday. More than 400 people in Gaza have died in the strikes in what international media is calling the deadliest day of violence in Israel since the 1973 war.

Major airlines have halted flights to Israel: Some 15% of airlines have canceled flights to Israel’s main airport, the Wall Street Journal, citing flight tracking site FlightAware. The Israeli occupation authorities yesterday also closed the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge crossing with Jordan for Palestinian travelers and closed all checkpoints around occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinian news outlet Wafa reports, citing various sources.

MEANWHILE- Russia ends ban on most diesel exports: Russia’s government has lifted a ban on pipeline diesel exports delivered via ports, removing the bulk of restrictions imposed on 21 September, Reuters reports, citing a Russian government statement. The lifting of the ban comes with one condition: that the manufacturer supplies at least 50% of the produced diesel to the domestic market, according to the statement.

This isn’t the first time they’ve tweaked the ban: The initial temporary ban on fuel exports aimed to stabilize Russia’s domestic market after it suffered from shortages of gas and diesel. It was expected to be “short-lived and completely lifted once harvest is over,” according to analysts. However, shortly after it was imposed, the ban was tweaked to exempt bunker fuel used for some vessels as well as diesel with high sulfur content.

SPEAKING OF RUSSIA- Russian attacks continue to target Ukraine’s port infrastructure: Russian forces have struck another grain facility in Odessa, damaging port infrastructure, Re uters quotes Ukrainian authorities as saying on Saturday. The missile strike hit a portside grain facility, a boarding house, and injured four people. Russian forces have been regularly carrying out missile and drone strikes in recent weeks, hindering Ukraine from exporting its grain products.

PSA- CMA CGM has announced rate increases for cargo shipped from Asia to the Mediterranean, according to a company notice. The increased rates apply to dry, reefer, empty, and out of gauge cargo (OOG) shipments from all Asian ports to all Mediterranean ports and will be effective 1 November until further notice, the notice said.

Egypt is importing more gas from Israel: Egypt’s gas imports from Israel are expected to increase by 30% over the “coming period,” Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek El Molla told Asharq Business (watch, runtime: 7:07) on the sidelines of the Adipec expo in Abu Dhabi last week. Gas imports from Israel are used to supply Egypt’s two LNG plants, where gas is liquefied for re-export to Europe, El Molla cited the latter for boosting our gas imports from Israel.

More imports, less exports for Egypt: While Egypt’s gas imports from Israel rose 21.5% y-o-y to 903 mn cubic feet per day (cf/d) on average in 1H 2023, Israeli gas imports could rise as high as 1.05 bn cf/d this month due to falling seasonal demand in Israel. However, the country is bracing for its LNG exports to halve this year, alongside a drop in revenues from LNG exports, El Molla told Sky News Arabia, saying that he expects LNG exports to drop to 4 mn tons from the 8 mn tons recorded last year. Egypt exported some 3 mn tons of LNG during the first half of the year.

Iran + Azerbaijan start constructing road bridge to bolster freight transi t : Azerbaijan and Iran held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a road bridge and border and customs infrastructure between the two countries in the Zangilan region, according to Interfax. The bridge — dubbed the Aras Corridor — will be built with Azerbaijani funding and will connect Azerbaijan’s Ağbənd to Iran’s Jolfa, Islamic Republic News Agency writes. The project should boost cargo transit and facilitate traffic to and from the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Interfax writes.

The bridge is set to be operational within a year, the news agency adds. The bridge is set to be 220 meters long and 25 meters wide, accommodating some 1.1k vehicles per day, according to semi-official Tasnim News Agency. The Aras Corridor will form the Azerbaijan-Iran-Nakhchivan Corridor by linking the East Zangezur region in Azerbaijan to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through Iran’s territory, Tasnim adds.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Turkey is expecting to enter into a comprehensive trade and economic agreement (CEPA) with Qatar by the end of this year, Turkey’s Trade Minister Omer Bolat said at Ankara’s pavilion at the Expo 2023 Doha, Gulf Times reports. The agreement would abolish customs duties, which would stimulate trade and investment between the two countries, with potential areas of investments including transportation, renewables, banking and financial services, and construction, Bolat reportedly added.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Saudi Railways and French company Alstom have initiated trials for the region’s first hydrogen-powered trains in the Kingdom this month, the Saudi Press Agency reports. The trials will assess the trains’ compatibility with the existing local infrastructure in preparation for their future launch.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- GCC inches closer to common market: The GCC’s Financial and Economic Cooperation Committee has set out a roadmap and timetable for achieving a customs union before the close of 2024, the Saudi Gazette reported. The committee’s 120th session in Muscat also greenlit new laws streamlining GCC economic integration and exemptions for industrial input trade across the bloc, according to the Gazette. The members of the committee also expressed approval for the US-led IMEC infrastructure project unveiled at the G20 summit, the report added.

MARKET WATCH-

Saudi Arabia and Russia will continue their oil production cuts into November and December, according to an OPEC statement. Saudi Arabia will continue its 1 mn barrels a day (bbl / d) cut, while Russia will continue to cut some 300k bbl / d. The reduction in output volumes first came into play in July, but has now been extended until the end of the year, capping November and December’s production figures to 9 mn barrels per day. The decision will be reviewed next month to consider deeper cuts or increasing production, the statement said.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

A Saudi-Turkish Summit kicked off yesterday in Istanbul, Turkey and will run till Thursday, 12 October. Organized by the Türkiye Exporters Assembly in coordination with the Turkish Commerce Ministry, the summit will be attended by Turkish exporters and 70 members of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Chamber of Commerce. The participants will also include representatives from an array of sectors including food, non-ferrous metals, textiles, ready-made garments, chemicals, and furniture.

Intermodal Europe 2023 will begin tomorrow at RAI Amsterdam in the Netherlands and will run till Thursday. The event brings together representatives from the container shipping and intermodal transport sectors, including cold chain, technology, containers, transport and tracking, together for three days of networking and industry collaboration.

The Cool Logistics Global 2023 conference will kick off tomorrow at the Genoa Stock Exchange in Genoa, Italy, and will run till Thursday. The three day conference will bring together analysts, cargo owners, and cold chain logistics stakeholders to discuss key challenges facing the sector. The first day of the event will focus on the transition to net zero, while the second day of the conference will focus on innovation, technology, cool cargo operations, infrastructure, and assets, with the final day focusing on perishables trade and cold chain logistics in Italy and the wider Mediterranean.

The GCC-Türkiye Economic Forum is set to take place on 11-13 November in Çırağan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul, Turkey. The event will cover trade, investment and finance, energy, infrastructure, transportation and logistics, industry, tourism, agriculture and food, and sports sectors.

The Supply Chain and Logistics Conference 2023 will take place on 22-23 October at the Four Seasons in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The conference will bring together supply chain decision makers to discuss ways that Saudi Arabia can strengthen its economy and make itself a global logistics center and hub connecting three continents in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

Check out our full calendar at the bottom of this email for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.

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