Good morning, nice people, and happy Thursday. We cap off the week with another tight issue, with updates from AD Ports and (lots of) diplo and shipping news from Qatar.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY-A new handling facility in Khalifa port:AD Ports Group and Brazilian logistics operator and iron ore producer Vale will develop a mega steelmaking hub in Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD) and a handling facility in Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa port that can accommodate Valemax vessels.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The final price of the Adnoc L&S IPO will be announced today, after the subscription period for institutional investors ended yesterday. The company had set a price range of USD 1.99-2.01 for the IPO, which could raise as much as USD 769.4 mn, and could value it as high as USD 4.05 bn. The company will list its shares on the ADX on 1 June.

National Marine Dredging doubled its cornerstone investment in the IPO to USD 60 mn, after the company upped its IPO size from a 15% stake to 19% on strong investor demand, Zawya reports. Retail investors got a 12% slice of the offering, while institutional investors can submit bids for 85%, and another 3% is saved for Adnoc L&S employees and retirees.

A rebooted Black Sea grain agreement is off to a rocky start with Russia and Ukraine trading blame on who is stonewalling, Reuters reports. A last-minute breakthrough last week saw the framework — which has offered considerable relief to global food and fertilizer supply chains affected by the conflict in Ukraine — extended for another two months. Ukrainian officials, however, have accused Russia of “gross violations” by refusing to inspect vessels bound for Ukraine’s primary grain exporting port, and Russian officials have in turn complained that they are unable to export ammonia via a pipeline to Ukrainian ports.

DATA POINT #1- Bahrain’s trade surplus shifted to a BAD 152 mn (USD 403.2 mn) deficit in April, with exports falling 37% y-o-y to BAD 303 mn (USD 804 mn), Bahrain News Agency reports. The country’s imports increased 3% y-o-y to BAD 523 mn (USD 1.38 bn) in April.

WATCH THIS SPACE#1- Will the Iran-Turkey-Pakistan freight railway be relaunched? A Pakistani official proposed to relaunch a cargo train between Islamabad, Tehran, and Istanbul at the Pakistan Business Forum, to boost trade between the three countries, Pakistani news outlet Dawn reported. The cargo train would provide “faster, more cost-effective, and reliable transportation,” as cargo can travel to Europe via Turkey along this route in 15 days, Pakistan Business Forum head Ejaz Tanveer said.

Background: The ITI train has been suspended since July 2022, following disruptions caused by flooding that damaged the rail in the region of Balochistan, Dawn reports. Prior to this, operations of the railway had first begun in 2009 but remained suspended due to technical issues, only resuming in December 2021.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and China’s Mayor of Tianjin Zhang Gong have agreed to increase cooperation on maritime transport and logistics services, as well as cooperation with thePort of Tianjin and Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA)to attract Chinese investments, according to a SCZone statement.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Discussions are underway on the tendering process for the new Saudi-Bahrain Causeway, Director of Land Transportation Planning & Studies at the Bahrain Transport Ministry Hussain Ali Yaqoob said, according to Zawya Projects. The new King Hamad Causeway will connect Bahrain to the GCC Railway and will supplement the existing King Fahd Causeway. The project, which will be implemented as a public-private partnership, will undergo pre-qualification once final approval is obtained, Yaqoob said. A transaction advisory team, made up of KPMG serving as financial advisors, AECOM as technical consultants, and law firm CMS as legal advisor.

Qatar Airways’ CEO doubts the aviation industry will achieve net-zero emissions by 2050,Reutersreports. A lack of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supplies and alternative hydrogen designs being still in their early stages of development make it unlikely that the target will be met, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said. Boeing CEO David Calhoun also expressed doubts that government incentives attempting to make the transition to SAF affordable — including the US Inflation Reduction Act’s tax breaks for SAF adoption as well as EU, and UK policies — will not be sufficient to achieve price parity with conventional jet fuels. Al Baker’s statement comes ahead of the upcoming annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association where global airlines will discuss the implementation of climate commitments.

Calhoun also expects ongoing supply chain issues in the airline industry to persist until the end of 2024, Reutersreports. “Priority one for the two airplane manufacturers is stability,” Calhoun said at the Qatar Economic Forum, referring to Boeing and Airbus, which are both experiencing production delays recently amid the post-pandemic rebound in travel.

Has Saudi Arabia greenlit discussions over a KSA-Kuwait rail link? The Saudi cabinet has reportedly granted Saudi transport minister and his deputy authorization to negotiate a draft agreement for the KSA-Kuwait railway link project, Zawyareports, citing a Saudi Press Agency statement. The railway, which will be used by freight and passenger trains, is a single track line, spanning 111 km from the Nuwaiseeb Port on Saudi Arabia’s northern border with Kuwait to Al Shadadiyah in Kuwait.

Background: Saudi Arabia’s state-owned national railway firm Saudi Railway Company and the Saudi Transport General Authority appointed French transport and mobility engineering company Systrato carry out the feasibility study for the railway link earlier this month. The value of the tender for the study and detailed design work for the first phase of the railway was set at USD 3.25 mn (KWD 1 mn). Kuwait also intends to connect to the GCC Railway through an 111-km-long Gulf track, Zawya reports.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister has threatened to cause more losses for short sellers who put their money on falling oil prices, advising them to “watch out,” Reutersreports. Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ producers implemented surprise voluntary production cuts in April, leading to a price rally. The growing number of short positions increases the likelihood of further production cuts at the OPEC+ meeting, Reuters quotes analysts at Standard Chartered as saying. Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman emphasized the need for proactive measures by OPEC+ and criticized the International Energy Agency (IEA) for its predictions of a 3 mn barrel per day fall in Russian production after the Ukraine war for contributing to market volatility.