Will Saudi’s new storage specs finally unblock needed investments to raise supply?

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WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TODAY

TODAY: Saudi’s play to surge Grade A warehousing supply

Good morning, nice people. We’re kicking off the week with a packed issue, with a spate of regulation, trade, and project updates from Saudi, Egypt, and the UAE.

Leading the news today is our deep dive into Saudi’s shakeup of the warehousing regulatory landscape, as a six-month new specs deadline expires this week. The new specs, alongside other regulatory mandates, are set to ramp up the supply of Grade A warehousing, which is currently in hot demand from international businesses — potentially unblocking a pipeline of stalled foreign investment.

PLUS: Egyptian steel is bracing for a de facto export freeze to the US following a new 29.51% countervailing duty, effectively bringing the tariff rate on the product to a staggering 80%. Meanwhile, DP World is deepening its footprint in India with a new inland logistics hub in Madhya Pradesh — a move that comes as the UAE capitalizes on its push to double trade with the Indian subcontinent.

The big logistics story abroad

US President Donald Trump has threatened Canada with a 100% tariff if it strikes a trade pact with China, accusing Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of turning the US’ northern neighbor into a “Drop Off Port” for Chinese goods. The trade escalation comes days after Carney announced a partnership with Beijing — Canada’s second-largest trading partner after the US — to mutually reduce tariffs on certain products, including Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian agricultural products.

Watch this space

CUSTOMS — The Egyptian government is preparing to launch a fully automated export system on 1 April, two senior government officials tell EnterpriseAM. Based on the Unique Consignment Reference (UCR) and integrated into the Nafeza platform, the system is designed to slash customs clearance times from the current average of eight days to just 48 hours — and eventually to a matter of hours.

The move to say goodbye to paper-based procedures will bring 32 government entities, 130 customs entry points, 445 international shipping lines, and exporters onto one platform, one of the sources tells us. This integration will speed up approvals for the roughly 2k export certificates issued daily to just a matter of minutes, with exporters notified automatically of any updates, the source added.

The adoption of the World Customs Organization standard UCR system will also help Egypt manage risks more efficiently. The universal tracking ID for shipments will provide customs officials with a single audit trail from order to border and is expected to accelerate clearance times by helping Egypt move toward risk-based inspections, instead of blanket manual checks.

Why it matters: If the government is to hit its ambitious USD 145 bn annual export target by 2030, it must provide liquidity to exporters when they need it. Under the EGP 45 bn export support program in the current fiscal year, some exporters wait up to six months after the shipment leaves port before receiving any financial support, we were told. The new system — which we are told will also not result in additional fees for exporters — could enable export investments to be paid out immediately.

SUPPLY CHAINS — DP World to expand food supply infrastructure: DP World is doubling the size of Al Aweer Central Fruit and Vegetable Market into a 29 mn sq ft food trade hub, set to be rebranded as Dubai Food District, to boost the emirate’s food supply chain, according to a separate statement. The expansion will take place in phases, with construction on the first phase slated to begin in 2027.

The details: The new district will focus on fruits, vegetables, dairy, and gourmet staples and is set to include cold and temperature-controlled storage and food processing facilities.

This comes as Dubai’s role as a regional logistics hub has intensified demand across the retail and industrial sectors, creating a critical supply and demand imbalance. As of 3Q 2025, industrial space in the emirate reached a critical bottleneck, with a lack of available units and contract renewals surging as brands fight to retain existing locations.

DISRUPTION WATCH –– European carriers are tapping the brakes on Gulf flying, after a resurgence in US-Iran tensions following Trump’s remarks on Thursday that the US is sending a warship to the region. Major players, including Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, and KLM, paused flights to Dubai, Riyadh, and Dammam over the weekend, citing security concerns about Iranian and Iraqi airspace.

The disruption is spreading: The disruption quickly spread beyond legacy carriers: Luxair, British Airways, and Transavia have also scrubbed Dubai-bound flights, effectively severing key flying arteries connecting Europe and the region. The disruption’s geographic reach also expanded, with IndiGo canceling flights bound to capitals in Central Asia and the South Caucasus areas.

Market watch

Oil prices were largely steady this morning despite weather-driven production disruptions in the US, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures were down USD 0.07 to trade at USD 65.81 / bbl as of 02:21 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased by USD 0.06 to USD 61.01 / bbl. The slight easing in rates comes after more than a 2% surge in the previous trading session.

Meanwhile, India is continuing its Gulf oil spree, as its top refiner picks up 1 mn barrels of Abu Dhabi’s Murban from Shell, and 2 mn of Upper Zakum from Mercuria for March loading, alongside other grades, Reuters reports, citing trade sources. The purchase comes as Indian refiners cut Russian intake to a two-year low, tilting back toward Middle East and Atlantic Basin barrels to stay sanctions-clean and protect re-export flows.

The Baltic Index steadies: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — inched up 0.1% to 1,762 points on Friday, stabilizing after a more than 2% drop the previous day. The capesize slipped 0.2% to 2,583 points, while the panamax index fell by 0.1% to 1,612. Meanwhile, the smaller supramax index added 7 points to hit 1,026.

The Drewry World Container Index decreased by 10% to USD 2,212 per 40-ft container last week, according to the latest index readings. The decline is driven by a drop across the transpacific and Asia-Europe rates, especially the Shanghai-New York (11%) and Shanghai-Los Angeles (12%) routes, after the easing of the Chinese New Year demand rush.

A further decline is expected in the upcoming few weeks, Drewry said. A decline is in line with forecasts of a supply glut in 2026 and 2027 that could drive a sharp dip in shipping prices, as the potential full return to the Suez Canal meets a record-breaking wave of new ship deliveries, shipowner association Bimco previously said in a report seen by EnterpriseAM.

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How Saudi’s new regulations could help spur supply in a crunched warehousing market

A compliance clock is ticking for Saudi warehouses operators, as this week marks the expiration of a 180-day grace period for the Municipalities and Housing Ministry’s new technical standards (pdf) for storage facilities. Under the new standards, setting up new warehouses — as well as operating existing ones — will be required to meet risk-based safety and architectural requirements, raising the quality bar for the Saudi warehousing industry.

What’s in the law? Storage facilities are categorized by the risk level of their contents, with some labeled as medium risk (S1) and others as low risk (S2). Each classification has its own technical requirements, stipulating minimum square footage, ceiling height, and mandatory empty space between the warehousing facility and other property in the vicinity.

What does this mean for operators? The new standards — announced in late July 2025 — charge local municipalities to levy fees on non-compliant operators, who can face up to SAR 1 mn in fines as per the Municipal Violations Penalties law.

This can help spur demand for Grade A warehouses

Why does it matter? It could help spur supply in a market that is seeing unprecedented demand for high-quality warehousing, according to a Knight Frank report (pdf). This is especially evident in Riyadh, where severe shortage and high demand for space have pushed rental rates to historic highs in 1H 2025 — up 16% y-o-y to an average of SAR 208 per sqm. With occupancy hitting 98%, the shortage of premium space was further demonstrated by prime assets commanding rates in excess of SAR 250 per sqm.

The Saudi warehousing market is not “cost-sensitive,” unlike its counterparts in the region, and many “businesses are actually pausing their entry into Saudi because they refuse to settle for subpar Grade B assets,” Knight Frank’s Adam Wynne tells EnterpriseAM. By requiring new builds to meet higher standards and pushing existing operators to upgrade, the new standards could help Saudi meet the robust demand for high-quality, or what the industry calls Grade A, warehouses.

Other laws could also help address the supply gap

Enter the White Land Tax: In what could be an attempt to alleviate this demand pressure, the Saudi government rolled out the White Land Tax late last year, replacing the old 2.5% flat levy on idle lands in urban areas with a five-tier system that targets high-priority urban zones with annual fees as high as 10% of total land value.

What does this mean? For landholding families, holding idle land loses its traditional value for preserving wealth and becomes more of a financial liability, Wynne told us. “We’re seeing a lot of activity from local land-owning families who are looking to activate [their assets],” with many now carrying out due diligence and feasibility studies on how to best use the land, including by setting up high-quality storage, he added.

Specialization might be the name of the game: Local players face several options when developing storage facilities, with the most direct option being ambient, general warehousing. Given an asset’s specific qualities — like location — it may be more lucrative to establish specialized storage, Wynne said. In the long-term view, a specialized storage facility can differentiate itself in the years to come, as more and more warehousing spaces become available.

But it may not be so simple: The Saudi Food and Drug Authority rolled out new specifications for cold storage facilities last year, which similarly raise the bar for operators, according to the announcement (pdf). The authority mandated that all chilled and frozen food factories, warehouses, and their owned or contracted transport vehicles must link their temperature and humidity sensors to the Wasl platform starting last October.

DP World to build inland logistics hub in India’s Madhya Pradesh

Logistics giant DP World is moving into the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh to capture cargo flows through a new rail-linked inland logistics hub, according to a statement. The Emirati player inked an agreement with the state’s government at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Project details: The logistics hub will integrate rail, warehousing, cold chain, and cargo aggregation, linking central India directly to Nhava Sheva Port along India’s western coast to accelerate exports of manufactured and agri-goods. Nhava Sheva is the country’s largest container port, where DP World owns two terminals.

Why this matters

The hub should cut transit times by 30-40% and reduce post-harvest agricultural losses, which would in turn improve export margins for Indian producers and throughput volumes for Gulf-owned logistics infrastructure.

For DP World, which already controls critical nodes in India’s maritime gateways and 26% of its container traffic as of last spring, the move into the inland state — which recorded USD 7.8 bn in exports last year — seems a play to secure cargo at the source and transport it along its own inland rail networks to its maritime export links. It’s also part of a wider strategy to move upstream into more remote logistics operations to bolster trade corridors linking global markets.

Background

The bigger picture: At the end of last year, DP World committed to investing another USD 5 bn in India to boost its supply chain network. The news also comes just a week after the UAE and India agreed to broaden the scope of their trade and economic partnership and double their annual trade to USD 200 bn.

Madhya Pradesh is at the center of a foreign direct investment rush, featuring a possible USD 1 bn port investment by Maersk’s APM Terminals and a USD 11 bn commitment to data centers buildout by the Mumbai-based Digital Connexion, a joint venture between Brookfield Asset Management, Reliance Industries, and US-based Digital Realty.

Egyptian steel faces a total export freeze to the US under hiked tariffs

The US market is no longer an option for Egyptian steel. The US Department of Commerce imposed a preliminary 29.51% countervailing duty on Egyptian rebar earlier this month, claiming that local producers benefit from unfair government subsidies. The duties come on top of the Trump administration’s decision to double duties on steel imports to 50% in June, bringing the combined tariff rate to nearly 80% and putting the price of Egyptian steel well above the cost of US-made alternatives.

We could even see the combined rate top 100%, with a separate anti-dumping investigation potentially adding another 20-30% next May, Chamber of Metallurgical Industries Vice Chairman and El Marakby Steel Chairman Hassan El Marakby tells EnterpriseAM.

Why it matters: In 2024, Egypt was the top source of rebar imports to the US, shipping some USD 175 mn worth of steel as local producers aggressively filled the gap left by other sanction-hit markets. That volume is exactly what triggered the US regulatory backlash. For many steel producers, one of their most lucrative hard-currency corridors has just been closed, El Marakby said.

This is the first major geopolitical test for Ezz Steel since it voluntarily delisted from the EGX in March 2025. At the time, management sought flexibility to navigate global volatility. Being a private company today means Ezz doesn’t have to explain a massive Q1 export hit to retail shareholders, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problem — where does the steel go now?

What’s next? Expect an immediate freeze. No producer will ship to the US right now, given the risk of duties being applied retroactively, El Marakby argued. With the US closed and the EU tightening its carbon border taxes (CBAM), the focus will likely shift to either accelerating green investments to clear European climate requirements hurdles, looking towards regional reconstruction projects in Libya and other nations, or doubling down on an already oversupplied local market.

Suez Canal posts late-2025 revenue

Suez Canal revenues jumped 18.5% y-o-y in 1H FY 2025/26 to record USD 2 bn — buoyed by a 5.8% rise in vessel transits and a 16% increase in net tonnage, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Chairman Osama Rabie said last week. The pickup signals a slight recovery after over two years of disruption.

But don’t hold your breath just yet: The figures are still well below pre-2023 levels, where the canal’s top line recorded USD 4.3 bn in 1H FY 2022/23, based on our calculations. With the authorities now targeting USD 8 bn in revenues by FY 2026/27, there’s still a long way to go.

Shipping lines are testing the waters: Operators have begun edging back –– with France’s CMA CGM and Maersk making a cautious return by testing rerouted Asia-US services via the Red Sea.

Maersk has appointed Charles van der Steene as regional managing director for IMEA

Maersk taps Charles van der Steene to run IMEA: Global shipping giant Maersk has appointed Charles van der Steene (LinkedIn) as regional managing director for India, Middle East, and Africa (IMEA) — effective earlier this month. Since 2011, van der Steene has held multiple leadership roles at Maersk, including CEO of Damco IMEA, head of North America sales and marketing, and North America regional president.

Damac snags land for US data center push + Kezad to roll out a new metal park

Damac snags land for USD 20 bn US data center push

Damac secures land for US data center push: Damac has secured USD 12 bn worth of land and power capacity for AI data centers in the US — roughly 1 GW — putting it more than halfway toward the USD 20 bn investment it flagged last year, Chairman Hussain Sajwani said at Davos.

Location-wise, sites in Ohio and New Jersey are already secured, with Texas under evaluation, pointing to a strategy centered on grid-ready locations.

A quick refresher: Damac committed USD 20 bn to US data centers in early 2025 through its digital infrastructure arm Damac Digital — formerly Edgnex — with scope to double it if demand holds. Sajwani now says reaching that initial USD 20 bn target would take two to four years.

Kezad launches AED 430 mn metals ecosystem

AD Ports’ subsidiary Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (Kezad) is rolling out Metal Park, a 450k sqm integrated ecosystem for the downstream metals industry, according to a press release. The facility has an AED 430 mn investment ticket, and follows a pay-as-you-grow model that allows firms to avoid large upfront investments. The facility spans across both the Kezad freezone and mainland jurisdictions. It includes a storage facility, production hub, and business center to bring operations for firms working in the metals sector under one operating setup.

Ras Al Khair deepens its industrial push

Ras Al Khair pulls in heavy industry: The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has inked a SAR 139 mn contract with Saudi-based contractor Singatac Arabia to build a 100k sqm manufacturing hub at Ras Al Khair Port. The facility will develop offshore platforms and equipment for the oil and gas sector –– equipped with a specialized welding system and heavy-lift cranes.

Calendar

2026

FEBRUARY

3-4 February (Tuesday-Wednesday): Middle East Bunkering Convention, Dubai, UAE.

4-5 February (Wednesday-Thursday): Breakbulk Middle East, Dubai, UAE.

4-5 February (Wednesday-Thursday): MRO Middle East, Dubai, UAE.

9-11 February (Monday-Wednesday): Future Warehouses & Logistics, Dubai, UAE.

10-12 February (Tuesday-Thursday): Sustainable Aviation Future MENA, Dubai, UAE.

12 February (Thursday): Technical Seminar on Marine Biofuels, London, UK.

15-17 February (Sunday-Tuesday): World Advanced Manufacturing Logistics Summit and Expo, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

20-22 February (Friday-Sunday): Dubai Freight Camp, Dubai, UAE.

24-25 February (Tuesday-Wednesday): Green Shipping Summit, Athens, Greece.

25-27 February (Wednesday-Friday): Air Cargo Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

25-27 February (Wednesday-Friday): Air Law Treaty Workshop, Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

MARCH

5-6 March (Thursday-Friday): CargoIS Forum, Miami, United States.

9-13 March (Monday-Friday): WCA Worldwide Conference, Singapore.

10-12 March (Tuesday-Thursday): World Cargo Symposium, Lima, Peru.

18-19 March (Wednesday-Thursday): IntraLogisteX, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

18-19 March (Wednesday-Thursday): Green Marine Transport Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

26 March (Thursday): Gulf Ship Finance Forum, Dubai, UAE.

APRIL

12-15 April (Sunday-Wednesday): Saudi Smart Logistics, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

16-17 April (Thursday-Friday): Global Supply Chain and Logistics Summit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

MAY

19-21 May (Tuesday-Thursday): Ground Handling Conference (IGHC), Cairo, Egypt.

12-14 May (Tuesday-Thursday): Aviation Energy Forum (AEF), Paris, France.

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