Good morning, folks. The newscycle has picked up today after a slow start this week, leaving us with a pile of IPO, investment, M&A, and earnings updates from across the region. But first, more positive updates on US-China trade de-escalation…
THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- Sino-US standoff simmers down… for now: The US and China have agreed to a 90-day pause to their trade war after two days of talks in Geneva, with the US slashing tariffs it imposed earlier this year on Chinese goods from 145% to 30% — encompassing the 10% baseline US tariff and an additional 20% linked to fentanyl trafficking — while China lowered its tariffs on US imports from 125% to 10%, according to a joint statement out yesterday.
A three-month ticking clock: More Talks are expected to continue in the coming weeks, with both parties leaving the door open to extending the three-month truce if progress is made. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted that if China were to engage more directly on curbing the fentanyl trade, further relief could be possible.
Not a wholesale disengagement: “The US is going to do a strategic decoupling in terms of the items that we discovered during Covid were of national security interests — whether it’s semiconductors, medicine, steel,” Bessent told Bloomberg, underscoring the administration’s intent to maintain pressure on critical supply chains while easing tensions more broadly.
MARKET REAX- American markets rallied on the news, with the S&P 500 jumping 3.3% by the end of trading yesterday and the Nasdaq finishing the day up 4.4%, while the USD gained 1.4%. The VIX index — Wall Street’s so-called “fear gauge” — also dropped below the cutoff 20 mark yesterday for the first time since 28 March, suggesting a potential shift toward calmer market sentiment. The VIX rose to a 5-year high of 45.3 on 4 April fueled by Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.
This story grabbed a lot of ink in int’l press: Reuters | Bloomberg | | The Wall Street Journal | CNBC | CNN | The New York Times | The Washington Post | BBC
HAPPENING TODAY-
US President Donald Trump will land in Saudi Arabia today in the first leg of his Gulf trip — set to drum up investment and expand trade with our region. Agreements in investment, oil, defense, AI infrastructure, and nuclear power, are all in the cards when Trump starts his tour in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday before heading on to the UAE and Qatar.
The swing through the region is set to see “a huge number of investment and trade [agreements] happening,” Arab News’ Faisal Abbas told CNBC, stressing that injections of capital should be a two-way street. A potential lifting of the 10% tariff on aluminum and steel could also be on the agenda, CNBC reported elsewhere. Gulf officials are actively looking to tie fresh investment and big purchases of US goods to preferential tariff treatment for exports from our region.
WATCH THIS SPACE-
#1- dnata pursues APAC, Europe expansion: Homegrown aviation service provider dnata is looking at acquisitions throughout Asia Pacific (APAC) and Europe to countervail conflict-related volatility, with due diligence for the acquisitions currently underway, CEO Steve Allen told Gulf News. The acquisitions are part of the company’s goal to shore up its cargo handling and premium services in a two-pronged approach seeking geographical and product capability expansion.
dnata’s moves in Europe, APAC: dnata is set to introduce 800 new ground support equipment units across 10 countries in 2025 under a USD 110 mn investment ticket — diversifying its operations in the UAE, Brazil, Italy, USA, and Singapore. In Europe, dnata clinched a multi-year ground handling contract with EasyJet at Zurich Airport last September, whereby it will oversee EasyJet’s passenger, ramp, and baggage services. This came months after it landed an agreement with Lufthansa Group in May 2024 to provide passenger and ramp services at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
A mixed earnings call: The company’s net income after tax flag 1.8% y-o-y to AED 1.4 bn for 1Q 2025, while revenues surged 9.8% y-o-y to AED 21.1 bn. Management attributed the topline growth to strong demand for travel and cargo transportation, particularly in the US, UK, Australia, Europe, and the UAE.
#2- Egypt-Qatar talks center nat gas projects, supply: A delegation led by Oil Minister Karim Badawi met with Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi on Sunday to discuss stepping up joint natural gas projects and the potential signing of long-term contracts to secure Qatari natural gas for domestic consumption, according to a cabinet statement.
On the docket: The sit-down also focused on the potential integration of energy infrastructure between the two nations to leverage possible synergies in LNG trading, liquefaction, and regasification. The parties also considered collaboration in exploration and production, and reviewed Qatar Energy’s drilling plans for Egypt’s Nefertari, Cairo, Masri, and North Maraqia wells in the Mediterranean.
Interested for a while: Qatar Energy signed up to acquire oil and gas giant Chevron’s 23% operational stake in the Mediterranean’s North El Dabaa Block last November. The firm seeks to undergo exploration works in Egypt’s offshore sites, and is routinely active in Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company’s bidding rounds for exploration blocks.
IN OTHER EGYPT NEWS- Government mulls anti-dumping duties on steel: Egypt is considering anti-dumping duties on hot-rolled steel imports after a dip in demand for Egyptian steel exports has left local producers competing with cheaper, lower-quality steel, a government source told EnterpriseAM. Egypt had traditionally exported its hot steel output to European and other markets, while looking towards cheaper imports of inferior and cheaper hot steel to meet local market demand, we were told.
IN CONTEXT- European tariffs on hot rolled steel have upset the country’s import/export balancing act, leading to a study of export orders of local steel to assess the impact ahead of any market intervention.
#3- Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) launched a new AI company — HUMAIN — that will operate across the entire AI value chain including data centers, according to a statement. Besides data centers, HUMAIN’s AI infrastructure offerings will include Arabic multimodal LLMs, and cloud solutions to boost local and global AI capabilities.
REMEMBER- The Kingdom has been ramping up its data center capacity: The Kingdom is planning a USD 100 bn AI project to rival the UAE as a technological hub, although details are scant. Leap 25 recently saw a flurry of investments in data centers, including USD 1.4 bn investment from Alfanar for four data centers, as well as a USD 5 bn agreement between DataVolt and Neom to set up a fully sustainable AI data center with an initial capacity of 300 MW capacity, eventually ramped up to 1.5 GW.
AND- It's paying off: By 2023, Saudi was the second-largest regional market for colocation data centers with 22 active and 40 planned, alongside 10 hosted supercomputers. The Kingdom is set to become the Middle East’s data center powerhouse by 2027, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 37% — almost double that of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and well above the 15% global average.
MARKET WATCH-
#1- Oil prices fell on Tuesday morning — despite reported progress on US-China talks — amid reports on rising supply, Reuters reports. Brent crude futures dipped by USD 0.22 to USD 64.74 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased by USD 0.18 to reach USD 61.77 a barrel by 02.48 GMT. The drop came despite an earlier rally yesterday that saw prices reach a two-week high.
Meanwhile, Opec+ production hikes could generate an extra USD 1.9 bn in annual cashflow for Aramco at USD 60 per barrel, Asharq Business quoted CEO Amin Nasser as saying in a post-earnings conference call yesterday. Aramco can quickly and efficiently boost crude oil production to 12 mn barrels per day (bpd) at minimal extra cost, with each mn bpd of spare capacity potentially generating USD 12 bn in operating cashflows at 2024 prices, Nasser added.
The rationale: Global oil demand hit a record 104.3 mn bpd In 1Q 2025, up by 1.7 mn barrels from the same period last year, with refining also reaching record levels. Meanwhile, non-Opec production has slowed, and global crude inventories dropped to their lowest in five years, with crude oil cover at around 40 days by the end of 1Q 2025, Nasser said.
#2- Baltic index snaps losing streak: The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index — which tracks rates for the capesize, panamax, and supramax vessel segments — was up 0.39% to 1,304 points on Monday. The capesize gained 1.29% to 1,731 points, while the panamax fell 0.81% to 1,342 points. The smaller supramax index grew one point to 970.
Get Enterprise daily
The roundup of news and trends that move your markets and shape corporate agendas delivered straight to your inbox.
***YOU’RE READING EnterpriseAM Logistics, the essential MENA publication for senior execs who care about the industry that connects producers and retailers to global markets. We’re out Monday through Thursday by 9:15am in Cairo and Riyadh and 11:15am in the UAE.
EnterpriseAM Logistics is available without charge thanks to the generous support of our friends at Hassan Allam Utilities, Transmar, and AK-Ships.
Were you forwarded this email? Tap or click here to get your own copy of Enterprise Logistics.
Want to send us a story idea, request coverage, ask for a correction, or otherwise get in touch? Reach out to us on logistics@enterprisemea.com.
DID YOU KNOW that we also cover Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the MENAclimate industry ?
***
CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-
The UAE will host the Seamless Middle East from Tuesday, 20 May to Thursday, 22 May in Dubai. The event will cover topics including digital marketing, e-commerce, and retail and merchant payments.
Saudi Arabia will host the Saudi Warehousing & Logistics Expo from Tuesday, 27 May to Thursday, 29 May in Riyadh. The expo will host over 18k supply chain industry professionals and more than 400 exhibitors. It will also explore over 3.5k solutions.
Morocco will host the International Conference on Logistics and Supply Chain Management from Wednesday, 28 May to Friday, 30 May in Casablanca. The conference will cover scientific research, technologies, and environmentally friendly digital solutions in the logistics, transport, and supply chain sectors.
Check out our full calendar at the bottom of this email for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.




