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Salalah’s ticking clock
Oman will hand the Port of Salalah to a new operator in November 2028. The Transport Ministry ruled out extending the existing concessions held by Salalah Port Services Co., according to an MSX disclosure (pdf). The Muscat-listed company will run the port until its concessions — held since 1998 — expire on 1 November 2028. The ministry says operations and development work will continue in the meantime and that a successor will be announced later, Oman Observer reports.
The decision closes a renewal process that was still open in March. Salalah Port Services had been negotiating an extension with the government as recently as March. Maersk’s APM Terminals holds around 30% of the company and manages the port, and Oman’s Asyad Group owns another 20%.
REMEMBER- Salalah is one of the region’s biggest transshipment hubs. The port completed a USD 300 mn expansion in February 2025, lifting annual container handling capacity to 6.5 mn TEUs, with actual throughput reaching 4.3 mn TEUs last year. It also handled 511k TEUs in September, beating August’s previous high.
Neom calling
Neom and Ceva want to scale up the Europe-to-Gulf route through Egypt: Saudi Arabia’s Port of Neom and Ceva Almajdouie Logistics have signed an MoU to explore a multimodal freight corridor linking Europe, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the wider GCC, and Iraq, according to a press release. Neom brings its Red Sea terminal, and Ceva brings its cross-border trucking fleet, customs brokerage, and bonded warehousing across container, RoPax, bulk, and project cargo. The MoU doesn’t set an investment figure, timeline, or specific routes.
REMEMBER- The route already works: European trailers have been moving through Damietta, overland to Safaga, and by ferry to Neom since late April, giving Gulf-bound shippers a way around the Hormuz disruption.
Humain tenders data center
A c. USD 1 bn data center build is up for grabs in Riyadh: PIF-backed AI infrastructure developer Humain has issued a request for proposals for an EPC contract on a 100 MW AI data center in the capital’s Al Saad district, with bids due 8 November, Meed reports. The winning contractor mobilizes in January 2027 and has 25 months to deliver two 50 MW phases on a 350.2k sqm plot. The first phase is due in October 2028 and the second in January 2029. An optional third phase would take the site to 200 MW by July 2029.
IN CONTEXT- The tender sits inside a much larger footprint. Humain is developing the infrastructure for a planned 6 GW AI campus in the same Al Saad district, where Al Yamama holds the enabling-works contract.
Powering up Constanța
DP World is spending EUR 53.8 mn (c. USD 60.2 mn) to electrify its Constanța South Container Terminal in Romania, with completion scheduled for August 2028, according to a press release. The project will wire 29 container-yard blocks for electric gantry cranes. It will also add a charging hub with 10 charging points and 10 electric terminal tractors and install two shore-power systems so docked vessels can draw renewable electricity instead of running their auxiliary engines.
REMEMBER- This is the first half of a EUR 100 mn program: DP World secured financing for the program in July. This component is backed by an EU grant of up to EUR 19.7 mn and an EBRD loan of up to EUR 25 mn, with DP World covering the rest. A further EUR 46.2 mn is earmarked for electric cargo-handling equipment.
