Professor proposes investing up to 20 billion riyals in Saudi Arabia’s ports — Asharq Al-Awsat

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during the Saudi Maritime and Logistics Congress, marine engineering professor Waheed Sami Abu Shanab proposed investing an additional 10–20 billion riyals over five years to improve the readiness of the country’s strategic ports. He stressed that this is a preliminary planning scenario, not an official assessment of the sector’s needs or an approved budget, Asharq Al-Awsat reports.

Investment in ports and logistics

According to the publication, Saudi Arabia’s ports have 34 logistics centers, including 17 at Jeddah Islamic Port. They are supported by investments of more than 14 billion riyals, or $3.7 billion. The programs also provide for the modernization of container terminals and an increase in transshipment capacity.

According to Abu Shanab, the investments include more than 2 billion riyals for the development of a container terminal at Jubail Port and an initial 1.6 billion riyals for a fourth container terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port. Other projects include upgrades to cargo-handling equipment and wider use of modern operating systems.

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Cybersecurity and reserve capacity

The expert said that port development should encompass not only increased throughput capacity, but also reserve capacity and connections to roads, railways and logistics hubs. In his view, this will help accommodate sudden growth in transport volumes and redirect cargo in the event of route disruptions.

Special attention at the congress was given to cyberthreats to port infrastructure. Abu Shanab cited the example of a cyberattack on the international shipping group Maersk in 2017, after which the company estimated its losses from operational and systems disruptions at $200–300 million. He noted that the failure of digital systems managing containers, vessel schedules and cranes could delay cargo, increase insurance costs and undermine customer confidence.

Ports overseen by the Saudi Ports Authority handled about 8.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containers in 2025, 10.58% more than a year earlier. The professor also called for the creation of a national crisis simulation model using digital twins and artificial intelligence to test the response of ports and supply chains to facility closures or changes in maritime routes.