DP World makes headway on Port of Tartous, another Egypt route for Jeddah + Turkey prepares its Syria crossings for more trade

DP World is making headway on its Port of Tartous development, delivering three mobile harbor cranes to the Syrian port, marking a key step in its USD 800 mn investment program to upgrade the port, Gulf News reports. The cranes are expected to lift cargo handling capacity by around 40%.

IN CONTEXT- The logistics giant will develop and operate the port under a 30-year concession agreement with Syrian authorities, inked last July. DP World will hold full ownership under the model and also explore setting up freezones, industrial zones, and dry ports under the agreement.

Jeddah gets a fresh Egypt connection

Another short-sea link between KSA and Egypt: Pacific International Lines (PIL) is adding a new shipping service — IRF — that will connect Jeddah Islamic Port with Sokhna and Safaga, with capacity of up to 1.2k TEUs, according to a post on X.

PIL has been building out its Jeddah network this year. The carrier added two services in April — the RGS, with a capacity of 1.8k TEUs; and the RS2, roughly 12k TEUs — giving Jeddah links to India, East Africa, China, Singapore, Egypt, and Jordan. The latest services extend Jeddah’s broader route density, which has continued through the summer with new links including India-Djibouti and Turkey.

Turkey is building bigger gateways to Syria

Turkey is scaling up its border crossings with Syria as it prepares for heavier reconstruction trade. Ankara is expanding capacity at the Karkamis crossing more than sixfold to 90k sqm, growing Cobanbey to 71k sqm from 21k sqm, and doubling lanes at Yayladagi, Syrian state news agency Sana reports. It also cleared 24k sqm of mined land at Akçakale (Tal Abyad) to make room for expansion. Nusaybin’s infrastructure is finished and just waiting on Syria to open a matching customs point at Qamishli.

This fits a pattern: Syria has been restarting freight rail links and courting logistics investment. This includes a USD 200 mn rail package for track and locomotive upgrades, as well as CMA CGM’s push — building on its EUR 230 mn Latakia Port concession — to operate dry ports near Damascus and Aleppo.