Kingdom’s logistics sector on the global radar for investment

Growing international interest and recognition of the Kingdom as a major investment destination is stimulating both demand and supply of consumer and industrial products, creating the need for a sophisticated logistical infrastructure.

Current transport and logistics systems are still underutilized and improvements are underway. The growing logistical traffic and economic diversification efforts has sparked the government to committing nearly $100 billion of investment in multimodal transportation networks. Several projects have been announced to address this, some of which are already underway such as $40 billion railway project. 

Agility’s emerging market logistics index for 2011 saw the Kingdom as the biggest mover in the index rankings climbing four places to 6^th position, placing the Kingdom just under the BRIC nations.

International and regional transportation and logistics leaders will come together in Saudi Arabia to participate in the 2nd Saudi Transtec Exhibition & Conference to share industry developments and discuss future opportunities on the 17th to 19th of October at the Dhahran International Exhibitions Centre. Officially supported by the Ministry of Transportation, Saudi Transtec 2011 is set to provide a interactive platform for exploring the progress within a sector that has earned revenues of $13.78 billion in 2010 according to a report by Frost & Sullivan and expects this to rise to $20.54 billion in 2015. Being the largest market in the GCC that also has considerable buying power the report describes the Kingdom as ‘happy hunting ground for logistics service providers (LSPs) in Middle East.’

As this potential continues to develop, Saudi Arabia is establishing itself as a key global transport and logistics hub, making it an attractive prospect for investors. Decision makers are being provided more and more platforms to tap into the business opportunities this sector has to offer.

Piero Zipoli, President of IES co-organizer of Saudi Transtec stated “As sectors and industries develop mechanisms to collaborate and share global best practises, we see this as essential for sustaining growth. We recognised this need for the sector and created the Kingdom’s first Transportation and Logistics event in 2010. This year we’re seeing a 110% growth for the Exhibition, with 19 countries participating. We also have a strong line up of industrial front runners confirmed to discuss sector challenges and developments during the 2 day Conference. These are clear indicators of the significance of the opportunities the Kingdom has to offer to the global audience”

Saudi Transtec 2011 is co-organised by IES and the Dhahran International Exhibitions Centre.