Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has added Hapag-Lloyd’s “Red Sea Express” (TRE) service to Jeddah Islamic Port. This move strengthens trade links between Saudi Arabia and key global markets, addressing rising demand in international shipping.
This new service supports Mawani’s goal of enhancing port connectivity and attracting top international carriers. Furthermore, it advances the National Transport and Logistics Strategy. This strategy aims to position the Kingdom as a global logistics hub that connects three continents.
The “Red Sea Express” will operate weekly. It links Jeddah with ports in Istanbul, Izmit, and Aliaga in Turkey, and Aqaba in Jordan. The service offers a shipping capacity of up to 1,130 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
To support such expansion, Mawani continues to upgrade Jeddah Islamic Port. Recent improvements in the northern section involved SAR 6.6 billion in investments. These upgrades have boosted efficiency and expanded the port’s overall capacity.
Today, the port includes 62 multipurpose berths, multiple specialized terminals, and modern logistics facilities. Its total handling capacity now reaches up to 130 million tons annually. This reinforces its role as a strategic trade gateway.
The Saudi Standard’s View: Connectivity That Competes
The Red Sea Express is more than a new shipping route—it signals a recalibration of trade influence in the Middle East. As competition intensifies among regional ports, Jeddah Islamic Port is leveraging its geographic position and infrastructure scale. It aims to become indispensable to global logistics.
Saudi Arabia’s ports strategy is no longer about throughput alone. It’s about strategic autonomy. This involves linking supply chains not just east to west, but across emerging trade corridors that reflect shifting economic power. By connecting to key Turkish ports and Jordan, the Red Sea Express creates new trade linkages. These bypass chokepoints and diversify export destinations.
This is where Saudi infrastructure meets foreign policy. The ability to attract global carriers like Hapag-Lloyd shows growing international confidence in the Kingdom’s reliability and regulatory framework. It also reflects a deeper national effort to make ports part of a broader ecosystem. This is one where logistics, manufacturing, and exports work in sync to deliver long-term value.
Jeddah’s success sets a precedent for how targeted connectivity, paired with modernization, can turn infrastructure into economic leverage. In a region shaped by fluid geopolitics and trade realignment, Saudi Arabia isn’t just reacting—it’s building the routes others will follow.
