Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR) has launched a new international logistics corridor for freight trains linking the Kingdom’s eastern ports with the northern border, local Arabic language newspaper Aleqt said.

The new rail route connects King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam, King Fahd Industrial Port in Jubail and Jubail Commercial Port to the Al-Haditha border crossing, providing direct land access to northern region and Jordan, the report said.

SAR said the service allows containers to be transported by rail from ports in the Eastern Province directly to the northern border while also enabling reverse logistics back to eastern ports. Each train can carry up to 400 standard containers

The corridor extends more than 1,700 kilometres and reduces transit time to nearly half compared with conventional road transport, the report said.

On Sunday, the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) had announced a partnership with UAE-based Gulftainer to establish a trade bridge connecting the Sharjah's Khorfakkan Port on the Gulf of Oman with Dammam on Saudi Arabia's east coast. The route integrates Khorfakkan Commercial Terminal (KCT) and Sajaa Dry Port with Dammam facilitating faster cross-border movement. Additionally, the authority launched five new maritime shipping services via the Kingdom's Red Sea ports in collaboration with MSC, CMA CGM, Maersk and Hapag Lloyd to facilitate regional and international trade flows.

Earlier this month, Mawani had launched a Logistics Corridors programme enabling containers and general cargo diverted from Eastern Province ports and other GCC gateways to be routed to the Kingdom's western coast terminals and thereon to destinations in the GCC.

(Writing by Majda Muhsen; Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com) 

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