Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The news cycle continues to keep up a brisk pace in the first week of 2024, with updates from around the region and beyond.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- Danish shipping giant Maersk will continue to reroute traffic away from the Red Sea. The decision follows a 48-hour hold by the carrier on transits through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden following a Houthi-led attack that targeted a Maersk vessel over the weekend.

^^ We have everything on this story and more in the news well, below.

PSA-KSA’s Transport and Logistics Ministry Services has launched a Beneficiary Service Center hotline (19955) to boost communication within transport and logistics sectors, according to a statement. The Ministry has also established hotlines for the Transport General Authority (19929), Saudi Ports Authority Mawani (199003), the General Authority of Civil Aviation (1929), Saudi Arabia Railways (8001262000), the Roads General Authority (938), the Maramain High Speed Railway (920004433), and Saudi Postal and Logistics (19992).

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1-The EU’s new green shipping regulation came into effect this week: The EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) — which requires vessels visiting EU ports to offset their CO2 emissions through the purchase of allowances — came into effect on Monday, according to an European Commission statement. The regulation applies to vessels with a 5k gross tonnage and above and covers 50% of emissions for voyages starting or ending outside the EU, and 100% of emissions for voyages between EU ports. George Procopiou, one of Greece’s largest shipowners, had some strong words about the initiative while speaking at an event in October, Splash reported.

#2- New Saudi data center regulations come into play: KSA’s “Data Center Services Regulations” document came into force on Monday, SPA reports. The regulations will streamline the implementation and development of projects in the data center sector in a bid to boost the quality of services, protect users, and promote investments. The full document can be viewed here.

#3- International travelers to reach new high in 2024: The International Aviation Transport Association expects 4.7 bn people to travel in 2024, which would exceed pre-pandemic levels of 4.5 bn recorded in 2019, according to a statement.

#4- Israel’s Haifa Airport aims to expand to allow more international flights, Jewish NewsSyndicate reports. The government has greenlit a two-year plan to enhance the facility to increase travel to and from regional destinations like Greece, Cyprus, and Jordan, the outlet says, citing Israeli Transport Ministry spokesman Avner Ovadia.

DATA POINTS-

#1- Emirates SkyCargo air freight up 7% in 2023: UAE airline Emirates SkyCargo recorded a 7% y-o-y increase in air freight in 2023, uplifting over 1.1 mn tonnes, according to a statement. The growth reflects the airline’s long-term plans to double capacity over the next decade, the statement said.

#2- Mwani Qatar saw boosted performance in 2023: Mwani Qatar handled 1.7 mn tons of general and bulk cargo in 2023, up 11% y-o-y, the company said. Livestock handled amounted to 444k heads of livestock, up 124% y-o-y, RoRo units were at 80k, up 1.5% y-o-y, and building materials were at 528k tons, up 2% y-o-y. Mwani Qatar processed 2.8k vessels and 1.3 mn TEUs in 2023, the statement said.

#3- Saudi low-cost carrier Flynas grew its fleet by 35% in 2023, adding 19 new aircraft, SPA reports. The airline also added 57 new destinations across 10 countries and boosted seat capacity by 22% for domestic and international flights. Flynas also witnessed a 28% y-o-y rise in passengers in 2023, accommodating 11.1 mn passengers.

MARKET WATCH-

#1-China has issued crude quota’s for 2024, all in one go: China has front-loaded import quota’s for 2024, with an allocation to traders and private refiners that matches all allowances granted for the whole of 2023, Bloomberg reports, citing industry consultant JLC. The quota’s issues are for some 3.59 mn barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude, coming in at 179 mn tons of crude imports for the year ahead. This is the first time that a whole year’s quota has been issued in one go, the outlet cites JLC as saying. The increased certainty should help private importers plan their year ahead, the consultant said. China’s state owned refineries are not subject to import limits and it is expected that the country will bump up quotas as a new refinery comes online, the outlet said.

#2- OPEC+ countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia have begun voluntarily reducing oil production by some 2.2 mn barrels per day (bpd) in January, with the cuts running until the close of 1Q 2024, Russian news agency TASS reported earlier this week. The move follows a decision at a 30 November OPEC+ summit for additional cuts to stabilize oil markets. KSA will cut 1 mn bpd of production while Russia will deepen its oil cuts from 300k bpd to 500k bpd. Other OPEC+ members including the UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman will bring to bear a combined 700k bpd of cuts, the outlet writes.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE will host The Dubai International Pharma and Technologies Conference and Exhibition from Tuesday, 9 January through to Thursday, 11 January in Dubai.The event will bring together the entire pharma value chain, from suppliers, manufacturers, distributors to pharmacists.

The UAE will host Transport Middle East from Tuesday, 23 January through to Thursday, 25 January in Abu Dhabi. The event will see more than 30 speakers come together to tackle the current challenges in global transportation and logistics.

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