From port operators to value-add enablers: A number of forces have prompted regional port operators to pivot away from broad reliance on handled volumes toward a deep integration of logistics and industrial services in 2025. The trend — in the making well before Israel’s genocide in Gaza triggered global shipping disruptions — saw ports increasingly linking their berths directly to industrial processing and customs-bonded manufacturing and logistics areas. This retrospective review looks at how Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE recalibrated their maritime strategy to hedge against global volatility.

From disruption to sovereign control: The transition from 2024’s volume shocks to 2025’s recovery was most visible in Saudi Arabia. After transhipment volumes fell sharply in 2024 — including an 83% drop at King Abdullah Port — the Kingdom pushed ahead with its plans to build its own integrated ecosystem.

The launch of Folk Maritime in 2025 moved this strategy forward. As Folk Maritime’s CEO Poul Hestbaek told EnterpriseAM earlier this year, the young PIF-owned outfit is focused on establishing a regional feeder network that connects Jeddah directly to the Indian subcontinent. By creating a regional liner that bypasses the reliance on global mainliners still diverting around the Cape of Good Hope, Saudi Arabia added a layer of insulation protecting its trade lanes. This was further bolstered by Mawani adding new loops, such as the partnership with Global Feeder Shipping to link Jeddah to Shanghai, Sokhna, and Aqaba.

Over in the UAE, ports did not just sustain their volumes — they even expanded thanks to 2025’s tariffs bonanza. With a mature industrial and logistics infrastructure integrated into ports, the UAE provided a neutral area for producers in locations that are under tariff scrutiny.

This meant that UAE shippers also had a good year. For example, AD Ports Group’s maritime and shipping segment saw its top line jump 30% y-o-y in the first 9M of 2025 on the back of a 40% y-o-y surge in container volumes during the same period.

A CONTRARIAN VIEW — Egypt perhaps provided the year’s clearest evidence that industrial integration can buffer against maritime disruption despite the major headwinds that hit the Suez Canal’s traditional toll revenue since 2024 (despite improvements in 2025). The Suez Canal Economic Zone — which oversees broader logistics projects on the Gulf of Suez and Suez Canal — saw its revenues hit a record EGP 11.6 bn for the 2024-25 fiscal year, a 36% increase y-o-y, despite the significant dip in canal transit fees.

Other Egypt-based ports played up their efficiency edge: Port Said Port leveraged the low-volume trend of Suez Canal transits to up its efficiency game, jumping 13 spots from last year to rank third globally and first in the region in the World Bank’s container ports index.

What to look for in 2026?

Watch out for the anticipated launch of Iraq’s Grand Faw Port. Iraq is hoping the port will be key piece to the USD 17 bn Iraq Development Road, a 1.2k intermodal network linking the Gulf to Turkey — which ultimately may become as a direct competitor to the Suez Canal.

The northern Arabian Gulf will also get a mega port, Kuwait’s Mubarak Al Kabeer, by late 2026. The port — also developed by Chinese partners — is expected to be a competitor to Iraq’s Grand Faw for trade volumes and will also ultimately be linked to the GCC’s rail project.

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