In a vast country with a maritime industry that straddles two globally strategic seas, three continents, and countless shipping routes, the Saudi Ports Authority, better known as Mawani, is a government authority which oversees a billion-dollar national industry of shipping companies and logistics services.
Having recognized the importance of the industry to the national and global economies early on, the government of Saudi Arabia created the new authority known at the time as the General Ports Establishment. As an independent institution, it oversaw the development of the country's ports on global standards to ensure the regional growth in the maritime trade and travel business.
Today, Mawani oversees a national ports system which not only dominates the industry locally, but managed to gain global recognition as a key facilitator of the global economy that connects Asia, Europe, and Africa, forms the lifeline of global trade, and influences marine traffic.
Throughout history, Saudi ports have been continuously developed to keep up with the Kingdom's growing economic strength and logistics capabilities. A turning point came in 1997 when a royal decree Has been issued to privatize the Saudi ports, making it one the first sectors to undergo the privatization process, By handing over the management, maintenance and operations of berths and ports equipment to the private sector, which lead Saudi ports towards investing in ports development, and assign major international ports operations companies to execute the ports load handling, in order to comply with the industry's global standards.
In 2018, the government decided to Turn the establishment into a financially and administratively independent authority labeled as the Saudi Ports Authority and given the public name Mawani (“ports" in Arabic), the new authority now oversees all civilian ports across the Kingdom, except those belonging to the economic cities.
In June 2021, under the patronage of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Ministry of Transport and Logistic Services launched its National Transport and Logistics Strategy (NTLS,) which aims to transform the Kingdom into a global transport and logistics hub. Naturally, Mawani being an integral part of the strategy, was given a role as the primary developer of the nation's maritime transport sector. Mawani developed its own strategy to comply with the objectives of the maritime transport sector according to NTLS and Saudi Vision 2030, aiming to assert Saudi Arabia's status as a renowned logistics hub. Some of the authority's main objectives is to expand the container capacity across the ports, and rise the Logistics Performance Index.
Mawani's Strategy
Vision
To build a sustainable, dynamic maritime sector that reinforces the Kingdom's status as a global logistics hub and empowers the nation's socio-economic ambitions.
Mission
To give the Kingdom a world-class port ecosystem supported by reliable, effective, secure, and sustainable operations while creating socio-economic value with partners, boosting innovation, and enhancing industrial capabilities.
Values
● Relentless innovation:
We empower innovation, set standards, and drive growth for ourselves and our partners.
● Quality and precision:
We commit to high standards, aim for excellence, and do the right thing.
● Customer-centric:
We aim to serve all clients in Mawani's ecosystem, including importers or exporters, efficiently and effectively.
● Collaboration and transparency:
We appreciate teamwork, openness, and collaboration, not only within our team but with our partners and customers as well.
● Diversity and inclusiveness:
We value our diverse workforce, and take pride in our open and supportive working environment.
Strategic Objectives
● Improve organizational efficiency for greater employee satisfaction and higher quality of our internal services.
● Offer better quality services to ensure higher customer satisfaction.
● Focus on safety and sustainability to minimize accident deaths and reduce carbon emissions.
● Increase organization environment efficiency at ports and across the maritime sector and digitize transactions.
Our Strategic Pillars
- Enabling growth and innovation across the Kingdom's maritime ecosystem.
- Reinforcing Mawani's role as a regulator and highlighting its business model as such.
- Ensure an effective, reliable organizational and business environment.
Ambitions and Plans
- Build and develop passenger terminals at national ports to receive international travelers and cruise ship passengers.
- Enhance the facilities and infrastructure of cargos terminals.
- Incorporating smart technologies and automation across ports and the logistics infrastructure.
- Minimize the environmental impact of maritime transport on the marine environment.
- Reinforce shipping lines and start new ones to connect regional and international ports to facilitate trade.
- Increase the overall container capacity of national ports to exceed 40 million TEUs.
- Achieve operational excellence by improving punctuality of inbound and outbound cargos handling.
- Streamline cargos clearance, cross-border transport, export and re-export procedures.
- Build comprehensive logistics park within and outside ports with direct connections to berths, which will raise the Kingdom's ranking on the Logistics Performance Index.
Ambitions for 2030
- Increase the overall container capacity of national ports to exceed 40 million TEUs.
- Increase the Kingdom's re-export market share to 45%
- Increase port operations to 70 % of their overall capacity
- Improve the Kingdom's ranking on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) index to the 80th
- Raise the Kingdom's ranking on the Logistics Performance Index to 4.01
- Place the Kingdom among the world's top 10 countries in logistics and ensure its leadership regionally.
- Increase the number of national re-export logistics centers to 30
- Improve the Kingdom's Trading Across Borders score to 35th globally.
