TODAY: Emirates breaks ground on USD 5 bn engineering facility at Dubai South

Good morning, friends. We have a brisk read for you this morning — compact but packed with key moves across planes, ports, and trade corridors. Leading the issue: Emirates broke ground on its USD 5 bn MRO mega-facility in Dubai South. Staying in the UAE, Borouge is weighing an East Coast export hub as Adnoc advances efforts to rewire its West-East logistics network.

And widening the lens to North Africa: Morocco is planning around USD 8 bn in port investments under its Port 2030 strategy to build multiple new gateways for global trade.

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Watch this space

ENERGY — Cyprus wants to route natural gas exports through Egypt by 2028 — piping volumes from the offshore Cronos field to European markets, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said ahead of a cabinet meeting that approved the field’s development and production plan alongside its commercial framework.

BACKGROUND- Last year, the Egyptian Oil Ministry signed three agreements with field partners Eni and TotalEnergies to transport and process Cronos gas through Zohr-linked infrastructure, liquefy it at Damietta, and re-export it to Europe. The 2028 target aligns with statements from both former Cypriot energy minister George Papanastasiou last year and current Minister Michael Damianos in March, who both walked back an earlier 2027 timeline.

The wider picture: North Africa’s race to supply Europe is intensifying, with Algeria, Morocco, and Libya all jostling for a bigger share of the bloc’s energy demand, as we explained in depth last month .

ZONES — Service startups in Egypt are getting a dedicated class of freezones, and all new freezone licenses are subject to a strict 100% export mandate moving forward, Investment Minister Mohamed Farid and Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said during a seminar attended by EnterpriseAM this week.

Why it matters: The move builds on a previous policy which only allowed service startups to operate within existing general freezones. The new amendments will provide the legislative framework for the new service-only freezone category, giving them a dedicated status and access to tax and customs incentives.

DATA POINT- USD 7.4 bn — that’s how much Egypt’s digital exports reached in 2025, up from USD 3.3 bn the year before, driven by outsourcing services revenues increasing to USD 4.8 bn for the year.

The Investment Ministry is also close to launching the country’s first services export council, Farid said. Its initial focus will be on scaling and exporting educational, training, and outsourcing services to capture regional demand and draw a larger pipeline of international students.

Market watch

Oil prices eased this morning after US President Donald Trump said the Iran war would end “very quickly,” though supply disruption fears persisted, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures slipped USD 0.88 to trade at USD 110.40 / bbl by 04.10 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dipped USD 0.67 to USD 103.48 / bbl.

The Baltic Index extends losses: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — fell 1.2% to 3,054 points, driven by general declines across vessel segments. The capesize declined 1.3% to 4,949 points, while the panamax index fell 2.1% to 2,459. The smaller supramax eased 0.1% to 1,568 points.

PSA

CMA CGM resets Med-Far East rates from June: French carrier CMA CGM will introduce new Freight All Kinds (FAK) rates on shipments from Mediterranean main ports to Far East base ports, effective 1 June until further notice. Under the revised pricing, rates are set at USD 145 per container from the West Mediterranean, USD 25 from the Adriatic, USD 400 from the Black Sea, and USD 350 from the East M

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