Good morning, friends — we’ve missed you. There’s been plenty of updates on the global and regional fronts since we last dropped into your inbox, so without further ado, let’s dive in.

THE BIG LOGISTICS STORY- Tunisia has reportedly received bids from Chinese firms Sichuan Road & Bridge Group and China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group for the contract to design and build its 2.1 km Tunis-Bizerte viaduct.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The BRICS summit kicks off this week with lots on the agenda: BRICS leaders will hold their 15th heads of state summit between tomorrow and 24 August in Johannesburg, South Africa. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to attend, Reuters reports, while Putin is expected to take part virtually due to an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The leaders are expected to discuss the expansion of BRICS, the BRICS bank, economic cooperation, and relations with non-member states.

President Putin and Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi had a call last week discussing Iran’s admission to BRICS, according to a Kremlin statement cited by TASS. The two leaders also “reaffirmed their determination” to boost cooperation in trade, energy, transport, and environmental protection, TASS wrote.

Many regional states want in on BRICS: Egypt, the UAE, KSA, Iran, and Algeria are all looking to join the alliance.

Algeria’s speaker of the People’s National Assembly Ibrahim Boughali arrived in Tehran yesterday for a five-day visit that will see him discuss enhancing bilateral trade and economic cooperation with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Qalibaf, Islamic Republic News Agency reports.

US-owned tanker carrying Iranian oil begins offloading despite Iranian threats: Marshall Islands-flagged Suez Rajan has begun a ship-to-ship transfer of its cargo of suspected Iranian crude off the coast of Texas, the Washington Post reports. Despite a lack of public court records, the ship’s cargo is widely believed to have been seized by American authorities for violating sanctions, according to analysts cited by the Washington Post. Iran — which has also seized two tankers in the Persian Gulf — has threatened to retaliate if the offloading continues in a move that could lead to an escalation of the ongoing tanker war.

The Suez Rajan and its cargo have been trapped off the Texas coast for months: Houston Refining — which reportedly owns the seized cargo —has faced hurdles trying to find shipowners willing to offload the crude due to “sanctions stigma.”

Background: The US and its allies have been seizing cargoes of Iranian crude following the Trump administration’s backing out from an arrangement allowing Iran to export freely in exchange for putting a halt to its nuclear program. This has forced Iran to find covert methods to ship its oil, the Washington Post explains.

WATCH THIS SPACE #1- A UAE-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is set to come online next month, Indonesia’s Ambassador to the UAE Husin Bagis said in a statement. The two countries inked the CEPA July of last year in a bid to boost annual bilateral trade to USD 10 bn over the next five years by removing barriers to trade.

WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Iran and Indonesia are looking to enhance barter trade between their private sectors under a potential joint fund, Tehran Times reports, citing an Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines, and Agriculture statement. Iran’s Ambassador to Jakarta Mohammad Boroujerdi also proposed launching a trade center in Indonesia to exhibit Iranian products, according to a statement.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- Egypt is planning to establish a logistics zone on the Libyan border as it looks to increase trade with its western neighbor, Asharq Business reports. The zone will be built on 300 acres near the port of Salloum, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said in a speech on Wednesday.

WATCH THIS SPACE #4 – Iraq may move away from Iran for its gas supply: Iraq could rely on Qatar for gas during the coming period due to its competitive prices, Iraqi outlet Alsabah cites economic experts as saying. While Iraq will rely on Iranian gas for the next three years, the country is looking for a source that, unlike Iran, has no imposed sanctions or supply issues. Qatar’s prices, compliance with contract terms, and ability to export without being impacted by politics are advantages that could push Iraq to Qatar, economists told Alsabah. Iraq could also consider Turkmenistan, the outlet reports.

MEANWHILE- Iran claims it is finalizing the extension of a contract to export gas to Iraq, state-aligned Tasnim News Agency quotes Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Majid Chegeni as saying. The country is also looking to supply gas to Turkey and Oman, revive a contract with Pakistan, and discuss gas trade with Russia.

Ukraine’s grain shipments down by a third amid Russia blockade: Ukraine exported only 3.2 mn tons of food commodities since Russia quit the Black Sea grain pact last month, down from 4.8 mn in June, Bloomberg reports. The situation has been made even more difficult with Russia’s recent attacks on the Danube ports of Izmail and Reni, economists tell Bloomberg. The attacks are posing challenges to finding reliable workarounds, Bloomberg cites Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as saying.

This is also causing logistical hurdles, as it is taking up to four times longer for cargo to get to the Danube than it did a few months ago due to traffic jams, a member of the board of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club said. Delays and smaller shipment volumes have also been increasing transport costs, with the waiting time at European countries’ border crossings now range around five to six days. Ukraine’s grain and oilseed exports could fall by 25% during the second half of the year, economists say

Stranded vessels have started to depart Ukraine’s Odessa Port using new corridor: A Hong Kong-flagged container ship carrying 30k metric tons of cargo in 2.1k containers left Ukraine’s Odessa port in the Black Sea last week after being stuck at the port since February 2022, Reuters reports. This comes following Ukraine’s announcement last week of a “ humanitarian corridor ” for merchant ships to and from its ports, which have been blockaded by Russia since the start of its invasion.

It doesn’t look like Russia’s on board: Russia has given no indication of whether it will respect the shipping corridor, although its forces have since fired at a Turkish-owned cargo vessel on its way to Ukraine, Arab News cites Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office as saying. The vessel, once inspected, continued on its way to Ukraine’s port of Izmail, the outlet writes. Turkey, who had facilitated the UN-backed Black Sea grain agreement, warned Moscow against further escalations.

DATA POINT – The Saudi Ports Authority’s (Mawani) ports handled 4 mn TEUs in 1H 2023, marking a 15% y-o-y increase, according to a statement. Mawani’s ports also saw a 10.7% y-o-y increase in vessels calling at the ports to 5.9k vessels, with transshipments rising 12.2% y-o-y, according to the statement. Its ports also saw an 18.8% y-o-y increase to container volumes in July to 753.5k TEUs, according to a separate statement. Exported containers saw a 34.6% y-o-y jump, while imported containers saw a 30% y-o-y increase. On the downside, cargo volumes dipped 9.84% y-o-y to 25 mn tons, mostly made up of general cargo, dry bulk cargo and liquid bulk cargo.

MARKET WATCH-

Trans-Atlantic shipping is experiencing a significant downturn, with spot rates plummeting below pre-pandemic levels after a robust period, Freight Waves reports.“This is a major meltdown for a trade that was steady and ‘dull’ for decades,” said Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta. Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, which has a 20% share in the Europe-US market, is considering canceling sailings due to low profitability. “We’re actively looking at that. In some cases, we don’t earn back our costs. We need to do things to keep our costs under control. I wouldn’t be surprised if we do something fairly soon,” Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said. Contract rates remain higher than spot rates, indicating carriers’ reliance on contractual business.

China is importing Iranian oil at decade-high levels, taking advantage of appealing crude prices, Bloomberg reports, citing intelligence firm Kpler. Iran exported a total of 917k bbl/d to China between January and June, Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reports, citing the Kpler report. Beijing has eased its probe into bitumen mixture imports — which is sometimes Iranian crude in disguise — which has accelerated the movement of cargoes through customs. China is set to import 1.5 mn barrels worth of crude oil from Iran this month, the highest figure estimated by Kpler since 2013.

Kuwait has become the primary supplier of ship fuel to Qatar, as its Al Zour refinery, operational since late 2022, ramps up exports, Platts reports. Al Zour refinery has shipped some 3 mn barrels of fuel oil to Qatar in 2023, surpassing last year’s main providers including Bahrain, Malaysia, and Singapore, according to shipping data from Kpler.

The Drewry World Container Index rose by 2.3% to USD 1.8k per 40-ft container this week, although it is still down 70.6% y-o-y, according to Drewry. The latest index is 82% below the peak of USD 10k witnessed in September 2021 and 32% lower than the 10-year average of USD 2.6k, suggesting a return to normal prices.

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index rose 9.6% last week, marking its best week since 28 July, Reuters reports. The capesize index was up 0.4% to 1.6k during the week, while the panamax index rose 15.3%, its fourth consecutive weekly gain.

NON-LOGISTICS REGIONAL HEADLINES OVER THE WEEKEND:

• KSA: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian in Jeddah as diplomatic relations between the two countries improve. (Asharq Al Awsat)
• Egypt + UAE: Egypt is expected to start buying UAE-financed imported wheat in January after parliamentary approval is secured in November. (Al Bayan | Akhbar Al Youm)

CHECK OUT OUR AGENDA-

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.

This is our first two-day event,which should give us plenty of time to dive into the nitty gritty of this industry we love. Our panels will see CEOs, bankers, investors and founders gather to discuss the future and trends shaping banking, finance, fintech and NBFS.

Our full agenda will be out at month’s end. Among the topics we’ll be discussing:

• Looking into the crystal ball: Top industry CEOs will join us on stage to answer tough questions on where we are as an industry, the forces that will shape all of our businesses going forward, and their views on dealflow in the year ahead.

• Surviving nuclear winter: We discuss how private equity and venture capital players are tackling challenges including fundraising and deployment in an environment in which it’s awfully difficult to price your local asset in USD terms.
• The robots are coming: We explore what the coming AI and big data means for the industry in our part of the world and what can bankers, NBFI, and fintech players do to capitalize on them.
• What do you do when nobody wants to be a banker — and when those who are already (investment or commercial) bankers are either (a) dreaming of doing their own startup or (b) moving to Dubai (or, increasingly, Riyadh)? We go deep into the weeds with industry leaders on how they’re building talent for tomorrow.
• NBFIs are a bubble. Prove me wrong: We chart the explosive rise of NBFIs and ask whether the industry is ready for a wave of consolidation. We’ll dive into whether consumer finance is starting to mature as a segment — and ask which sector is next.
• Handicapping the winners and losers in fintech in 2024: We dive deep into which categories are getting traction, where the untapped opportunities are, what business they would start today if they could, and what we can expect of the sector in the year ahead.
• What’s a bank, anyway? Wherein we talk challenger and neobanks with the players looking to shake up the brick-and-mortar industry.

** NEW: MORE NETWORKING TIME- Our agenda includes expanded networking time, including an expanded coffee break and a post-event networking room for you to interact with your peers and speak one-on-one with the team at Enterprise.

STAY TUNED for more detail about our exciting agenda in the weeks to come.

TAP OR CLICK HERE if you want to express interest in attending. We’ll be sending out the first batch of invitations soon.

Do you want to become a commercial partner? Ping a note to Moustafa Taalab, our head of commercial.

LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST-

MISSED OUR PREVIOUS FORUMS? The EnterprisePodcast has you covered : The Enterprise Podcast’s forum series has been bringing you audio recordings of what was said on stage at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum and the Enterprise Climate Forum.

WANT TO LISTEN? Head to: Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcast | Anghami.

IN THIS WEEK’S EPISODE- In our second panel from the Enterprise Climate Forum, We dive deep into what the business leaders in the climate industry in Egypt and the region have to say about how the private sector is adopting greentech, where they see the opportunities and what they’d like policymakers to do to encourage further participation. We were joined by Amr Allam, co-CEO of Hassan Allam Holding, Mohamed Ismail Mansour, CEO and co-founder of Infinity, and Sherif El Kholy, longtime partner and head of MENA private equity at Actis.