Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has unveiled a master plan for logistics centers to enhance Saudi Arabia’s position as a leading investment destination and transform it into a global logistics hub. Part of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy (NTLS), the ambitious blueprint seeks to capitalize on the Kingdom’s geographical location connecting three major continents: Asia, Europe, and Africa.
The goal is to develop the logistics sector to support economic growth and enhance local, regional, and international connectivity for international trade networks and global supply chains. Additionally, the plan aims to foster partnerships with the private sector, expand job opportunities.
The Master Logistics Centers Plan outlines 59 centers, spread across the key strategic regions of Saudi Arabia, with a total area exceeding 100 million square meters. These include 12 logistics centers for the Riyadh region, 12 for the Makkah region, 17 for the Eastern Province, and 18 across the remaining regions of the Kingdom.
Ongoing work is focused on 21 centers, with the goal of completing all centers by 2030. The centers will enable local industries to efficiently export Saudi products, as well as support e-commerce by facilitating rapid connections between logistics centers and distribution hubs within various regions, cities, and provinces of the Kingdom.
The plan also facilitates high-level tracking and eases the process of obtaining logistic activity licenses, particularly with the introduction of the unified logistic license. So far, the license has been granted to more than 1500 local, regional, and international logistic companies, in addition to launching FASAH, the two-hour licensing initiative in collaboration with relevant government entities.
In April 2023, the Kingdom achieved a significant accomplishment in the transport and logistics system by jumping 17 places globally in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, advancing to the 38th position among 160 countries in the international ranking of logistics efficiency. One of the key priorities of the NTLS is to place the Kingdom among the world’s top 10 countries in the Logistics Performance Index by the year 2030.
(Dreamstime photo of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s leading port and commercial center)
