Good morning, friends. We have a light issue for you today as we near the end of the week, with the newsflow yesterday bringing us just a few updates from Egypt and the UAE.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- The Dubai Maritime Authority has scrapped the freeze on Dubai-based shipping operators’ service charges. Over in Egypt, French appliance firm Mientainked an agreement to construct a USD 5 mn 20k sqm factory and warehouse in Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone’s (SCZone) Sokhna Integrated Industrial Zone.

HAPPENING TODAY-

Ukraine lost 180k tons of grain over nine days due to Russian air strikes,Reutersreports, citing Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry. Russia has been carrying out regular attacks on Ukraine’s ports and grain storage infrastructure after exiting the Black Sea grain initiative that had allowed Ukraine to export grain unimpeded.

DATA POINT #1- Saudi Arabia’s port traffic rose by 8% to 14.3k vessels in 2022 compared to 2021, according to data (pdf) from the General Authority for Statistics. The traffic in Jeddah Islamic Port took the lion’s share of ship traffic with 3.9k ships, followed by King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu with 2.3k ships, and King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam with 2.17k ships. Saudi ports recorded 228.8 mn tonnes of outbound cargo in 2022, while inbound cargo amounted to 128.6 mn tons. King Fahad Industrial Port recorded the highest amount of exports with 99.04 mn tons, and Jeddah Islamic Port was highest in terms of imports with 33.2 mn tons.

DATA POINT #2- Hamad International Airport (DOH) handled 1.1 mn tons of cargo in 1H 2023, Qatar News Agency reports. The airport also saw a 18.1% y-o-y increase in aircraft movements during the same period, with 116.3k flights arriving to and departing from the airport.

DATA POINT #3-Morocco’s trade deficit expanded by 61.6% y-o-y to MAD 138 bn in 1H 2023, Zawyareports. The country’s imports fell by 1.6% y-o-y during the period to MAD 359 bn, but still exceeded exports valued at MAD 221 bn, a y-o-y rise of 1.9%.

MARKET WATCH-

Global long-term ocean freight rates hit a two-year low in July, falling 9.5% since June and furthering a severe decline that began last year, Hellenic Shipping News reports, citing data from Xeneta’s Shipping Index. The value of long-term valid contract rates fell 57.8% y-o-y, as overcapacity in the shipping industry looks imminent, with a record number of new ships entering the market. June saw the highest-ever monthly deliveries of new ships, with more than 300k TEU of capacity from a total of 40 new ships added to the market, exacerbating the low demand and pushing rates down across all major trading corridors.

The global pool of container equipment is expected to contract by 2% in 2023, according to a Drewry report picked up by Hellenic Shipping News. The contraction is attributed to weak trade growth and owners disposing of more equipment in order to improve utilization rates, which reached 97% in 2Q 2023, the lowest since 2Q 2020.Sales of used boxes will remain high in 2H 2023, Drewry forecasts, as owners shed surplus and aging equipment amid an environment marked by weak appetite for new containers. Total production for the year is unlikely to exceed 1.9 mn TEU, which would be the lowest in 14 years, Drewry forecasts.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDARS- The Enterprise Finance Forum is taking place on 18-19 September at the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo. This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only, C-suite-level gatherings that allow senior members of our community to openly and frankly discuss critical issues in key sectors of the economy.

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LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST-

DID YOU MISS THE ENTERPRISE EXPORTS AND FDI FORUM? Tune in to the EnterprisePodcast and listen for yourself: The Enterprise Podcast is back with another installment of our forum series, where we bring you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum,which took place in May.

IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- We look at whether industrial clusters — which have been used to great effect elsewhere — can be a way for SMEs to be part of a potential export-oriented economy. Our speakers shed light on where industrial zones are working for us already, how Egypt can leverage clusters to get a bigger slice of that cross-border trade, and how industrial clusters can bring together SMEs to work with larger firms. We were joined on that panel by Shady Williams, managing director of IDG, Mohamed ElGebely, team leader at USAID Trade, and Nada El Ahwal, CSO of Transmar.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast. We’re releasing a new episode every Sunday morning.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE’s Finance Ministry extended the deadline for feedback on the Corporate Tax Free Zone public consultation from today until next Wednesday, 9 August, according to a press release. The ministry is holding a digital public consultation on its websitethat began last week as part of the UAE’s corporate tax freezone regulations, Emirati news agency WAM reports. The consultation aims to gather feedback from freezone-based companies, WAM added.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian is planning to visit Pakistan tomorrow, Tasnim news agency reported, citing Pakistani daily The Nation. Amirabdollahian is expected to meet with his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other Pakistani officials during the two-day visit.

Check out our full calendar at the bottom of this email for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.