Saudi PIF may create logistics giant to rival UAE’s DP World

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is considering consolidating its portfolio of shipping, ports and rail assets into a logistics giant that can attract foreign investment and strengthen and reshape its trade corridors following the upheaval of the Iran war. 

PIF executives have held early-stage talks about creating a single entity which could become a vehicle for multibillion-dollar investments across the logistics industry and eventually be listed via an initial public offering, Bloomberg reports. The sovereign fund owns or holds stakes in firms including Saudi Railway Co., National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia and Saudi Global Ports.

A combined Saudi entity would compete directly with the UAE’s DP World, the logistics behemoth that helped propel Dubai into an economic powerhouse and now operates across 83 countries, including the Middle East’s biggest port at Jebel Ali. 

Gulf countries have moved quickly to reconfigure their logistics and shipping operations to work around the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which exposed gaping vulnerabilities in the Middle East’s supply chains.

Saudi Arabia has redirected much of its trade, including crucial oil exports, through its Red Sea ports, while the UAE is rapidly expanding capacity via Fujairah on its east coast and developing new corridors via Oman.