Good morning, friends. It’s a busy morning with lots of storage and warehousing updates from across the region and more news trickling in on a possible Heathrow stake sale.

PSA-

Budaiya Highway eastbound lane closures:Bahrain’s Budaiya Highway will temporarily close eastbound traffic in one or two lanes for road works between Avenue 2 and King Faisal Highway for four days beginning on Friday, BNA reports.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

Qatar is set to ink more LNG contracts with European and Asian buyers, as major expansion projects look to boost the country’s output by next to two-thirds to 126 mn tons over the decade, Bloomberg reports, citing comments by Qatar Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi. Qatar’s main LNG producer QatarEnergy is also looking to partner with firms on expansion projects and has already signed contracts with global energy giants including Shell, TotalEnergies, Exxon Mobil, Eni and others, Bloomberg writes. Red Sea disruptions are not posing significant problems to Qatar’s LNG flows, Al-Kaabi said. Most of the country’s exports are directed eastwards, and westbound shipments are just taking longer to arrive at their destinations, he added.

DISRUPTION WATCH-

Container shipping lines are contending with port congestion and ship shortages on the back of Red Sea disruptions, the Financial Times reports. Diversions have upended shipping liner schedules resulting in clashes at ports, chief executive of Japan’s Ocean Network Express (ONE) Jeremy Nixon said. There was additional pressure on major port hubs located alongside reroutes with Singapore, Dubai, and Gibraltar seeing a sharp uptick in traffic, Nixon added. The shipping executive countered Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc’s statements that container line shipping was suffering from overcapacity, noting that the surge seen in vessel deliveries is due to decarbonization efforts and that ONE has found itself with less than the required number of vessels to maintain weekly services on now-longer routes.

Indian agriculture exporters are being crippled by the Red Sea disruptions,as elevated freight rates erode “paper thin” profit margins, the Loadstar reported, citing people it says have knowledge of the matter. Average freight rates from India to East Africa have seen up to 360% increase, figures quoted by the outlet showed. “Most customers have taken a hit, and they have no opportunity to pass on the cost increases to their buyers,” a local freight forwarder told the outlet. Many traders have stopped exports altogether, and are waiting for market conditions to normalize.

The EU kicked off its Red Sea maritime security mission, dubbed Euronavfor Apsides, on Monday, Reuters reported earlier this week. “The European Union is responding swiftly to the necessity to restore maritime security and freedom of navigation in a highly strategic maritime corridor,” Reuters cited EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell as saying. The maritime force’s mandate will be “defensive,” whereby it will be tasked with developing maritime situational awareness, escorting vessels, and protecting them from attack, Borell added. Aspides will involve three vessels to start with, all under EU command, EU diplomats had previously told the newswire. Germany already has a warship in the Red Sea, with France and Italy looking to contribute vessels soon, the newswire said, citing diplomatic sources.

MARKET WATCH-

Marine bunker fuel sales at the UAE’s Fujairah port hit a five-month high in January, boosted by a trend which is seeing vessels rerouted by Red Sea disruptions top up at global bunkering hubs to secure competitively priced fuels, Reuters reports. Bunker fuel sales at the Fujairah hub saw a 6.6% y-o-y increase to 668k tonnes, the newswire said, citing Fujairah Oil Industry Zone (FOIZ) data picked up by S&P Global Commodity Insights. The increase broke a long-running downward trend, with the gain being the first time in more than a year that volumes saw a y-o-y increase, the newswire said.

Baltic index tops one-month high: The Baltic Exchange’s Dry Bulk Index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments – was up 1.2% to 1629 points on Monday, its highest since 19 January, Reuters reports. Gains across all vessel segments buoyed the index. The capesize subindex rose 0.4% to 2457, while panamax gained 2.1% to 1681 points, a three-week high. The smaller supramax segment bumped up 19 points to 1090 points, its highest in more than a month, the newswire said.

DATA POINT-

Iran'sQeshm Free Zone(QFZ) has seen USD 1 bn in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) within a year, Tasnim reports. MoUs valued at USD 1 bn have been signed for FDI at QFZ, with allocations to projects in the sea-based economy, oil, energy, and petrochemicals sectors, Tasnim wrote citing statements by QFZ Chief Executive Adel Payghami.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE will host The World Trade Organization's 13th Ministerial Conference from Monday, 26 February to Thursday, 29 February in Abu Dhabi. The event will gather ministers from around the world to assess the operation of the multilateral trading system and make key decisions regarding the future tasks of the WTO.

The UAE will host the Gulf Aviation Networking Event (GANE) on Thursday, 29 Februaryin Dubai. The event brings together aviation industry leaders to network, gain insights on prevailing trends, learn about new technologies, and take part in panel discussions and presentations run by industry experts.

The UAE will host the Future-Proof Technology Eventon Thursday, 29 February in Dubai.

The one-day event gathers industry leaders to discuss how emerging technologies, digitalization, and cross-sector collaboration, could be leveraged to bolster supply chains. The event will see presentations by a panel of experts and major logistics executives.

The UAE will host the TradeTech Forum on Tuesday, 27 February in Abu Dhabi. The forum will see some 180 trade leaders and experts discuss the technologically advanced trade environment and a showcase of trade tech solutions.

The UAE will host the Future-Proof Technologies Conferenceon Thursday, 29 FebruaryDubai. The event will unite industry experts to discuss strategies for adopting sustainable supply chain operations through cross-sector collaboration, advanced technologies, and integrated logistics.

The UAE will host the MRO Middle East on Tuesday, 5 March and Wednesday, 6 March in Dubai. The two-day event will bring together key decision makers from airlines, MROs, OEMs, lessors, and suppliers spanning all aspects of the airline supply chain.

The UAE will host The Logistics Middle East Award on Wednesday, 6 March in Dubai. The awards ceremony brings together industry experts to celebrate the sector’s biggest accomplishments over the previous 12 months.The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday, 19 January.

The UAE will host Abu Dhabi Mobility Week from Wednesday, 24 April to Wednesday, 1 May in Abu Dhabi. The event, organized by The Department of Municipalities and Transport – Abu Dhabi (DMT), will feature announcements, forums, and introduce a mobility strategy for the emirate.

KSA will host a special World Economic Forum event from Sunday, 28 April through to Monday, 29 April in Riyadh. The event will focus on global collaboration and energy.

The UAE will host the 23rd edition of the Airport Show from Tuesday, 14 May through to Thursday, 16 May in Dubai. The 23rd Airport Show will see representation from airport suppliers, airport service providers, aviation executives, and regional decision makers. The event will highlight current innovations and new technologies, while emphasizing this year’s "Sustainability and Innovation," theme.

The UAE will host The Electric Vehicle Innovation Summit from Monday, 20 May to Wednesday, 22 May in Abu Dhabi. The event will see industry leaders come together to discuss sustainable mobility and tapping into groundbreaking advancements in electric vehicles while engaging with key decision-makers.

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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