The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's (KSA) unprecedented reforms
also means changes to the transport sector, with significant
investments expected in seaports, road and rail networks to improve
the efficiency of the transportation of goods within the Kingdom.
Find out which issues the Saudi transportation sector is currently
facing and how technology and other developments may impact it.
The throughput of goods (excluding crude oil) in the KSA was 252
million tons and 6.5 million containers in 2016. 95% of those
imported and exported goods are via seaports, while only 3% are by
air and 2% by road. This makes the Kingdom one of the world's
top sea freight destination from the EU and the USA, with nearly
50% of imported goods coming from North America and Asia. There are
nine ports managed by the Saudi Port Authority ("SPA")
and King Abdullah Port, which opened in 2014 just north of Jeddah,
was the first fully private port in Saudi Arabia.
