TODAY: SAR's new 22-km railway to Dammam

Good morning, wonderful people. Today's issue is all about keeping things moving. Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with a key industrial rail link, and the UAE is finding ways to keep oil exports flowing despite pressure on Hormuz. Plus: AD Ports is moving closer to a full rollout of its Safaga Terminal after kicking off trial operations.

You’ve spent decades building wealth, and the question now isn’t how to make money — it’s how to make sure it survives you, works across borders, and doesn’t quietly erode while you’re not looking. The rules have changed. Egyptian real estate, once a near-guaranteed store of value, is competing with markets in Greece, Spain, and Dubai.

Whether it’s art as an asset, crowdfunding or the tax implications quietly stacking up behind that second passport, the toolkit for serious capital deployment has expanded faster than most conventional advice — or most advisors— have.

In Issue 3 of EnterpriseAM Money Matters, we cover the decisions that matter most when you’re at the stage where capital preservation is just as important as capital growth — and where getting it wrong is no longer something you can simply recover from.

Tap or click here to subscribe to the Egypt edition, delivered to your inbox today, 11 AM Egypt & KSA.

Testing the waters

AD Ports has kicked off trial operations at Noatum Ports’ Safaga Terminal, with the UAE port operator’s USD 200 mn Red Sea terminal set for a full launch later this year. The terminal is designed to handle 450k TEUs, 5 mn tons of dry bulk and general cargo, 1 mn tons of liquid bulk, and 50k CEUs of Ro-Ro cargo once fully operational.

The Red Sea gateway has come a long way. AD Ports secured the 30-year Safaga concession in 2023, tapped Hassan Allam Construction for infrastructure works, brought in new STS and RTG cranes earlier this year, and locked in USD 115 mn project financing from IFC and NBK Egypt to push the terminal toward completion.

Safaga has already been pulled into Egypt’s Red Sea pressure test, with the port handling 4.2k shipments in the first half of March — up 75% y-o-y — as shippers leaned harder on Egypt’s Red Sea network during regional disruption.

The northern exit

Iraq is looking to raise crude exports through routes that bypass Hormuz, with plans to increase export capacity via Turkey’s Ceyhan terminal to around 650k bbl / d, the Arabic press reports. Iraq has few operational alternatives to the Gulf export routes — positioning the northern corridor as a hedge against disruption.

For now, the workaround is mostly Ceyhan: Baghdad sees Ceyhan as its most immediate workaround for potential Hormuz constraints, with a restart potentially restoring around 250k bbl / d from Kirkuk and a further 200k bbl / d from the Kurdistan region as northern exports are rebuilt. The country is also studying routes through Syria’s Baniyas and Jordan’s Aqaba.

No end to the waiting

Airbus’ backlog bites again: Airbus has started notifying some customers that delivery delays on some A321neo aircraft will now extend into 2028, as persistent shortages of engines, avionics, and other critical components continue to disrupt production.

REMEMBER- The delay notice comes after Airbus spent the first part of the year trying to close a delivery gap. The French planemaker deliveries were down 16% y-o-y in 1Q, before the shortfall narrowed to 6% by April, as it worked to protect its 2026 delivery target.

Market watch

Oil prices rose this morning on escalating Middle East tensions and lower US crude stockpiles, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures gained USD 0.66 to trade at USD 92.11 / bbl by 04.06 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased USD 0.60 to USD 88.80 / bbl.

The Baltic Index remains on a downward trend: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — fell 3.4% to 2,818 points on Tuesday. The capesize index dipped 5.9% to 4,441 points, while the panamax index was down 0.6% to 2,205 points. The smaller supramax index inched up 1.1% to 1,614 points.

PSA

Maersk hikes Egypt import customs filing fee: Danish shipping firm Maersk will raise its Customs Additional Item (CAI) charge on imports into Egypt by 40% to EGP 1.4k per bill of lading from EGP 1k, effective 15 June. The fee, subject to 14% VAT, will apply to all imported shipments and be reflected in upcoming invoices. The shipping company linked the increase to efforts to enhance service delivery through Egypt's customs platform.

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