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Red Sea crisis boosts Saudi air cargos by 50%

Saudi air cargo Christian Heinz/Alamy via Reuters
A Saudi cargo plane in flight. Saudi Arabia’s airports have had a 53 percent year-on-year rise in air cargo shipment so far this year
  • 1m tons passed for first time
  • Air cargo ‘less vulnerable’
  • Global demand growing

Attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels have resulted in more than a 50 percent rise in air cargo shipments to Saudi Arabia.

The country’s airports are expected to process more than a million tons of air cargo in 2024 for the first time ever. A total of 1.2 million tons is anticipated by the end of the year, officials say. 

So far this year Saudi Arabia’s airports have had a 53 percent year on year rise in air cargo shipments, Abdulaziz Al Duailej, head of the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation, told a forum in Riyadh this week. 

“Air cargo is less vulnerable to disruptions caused by instability and natural disasters. For Saudi Arabia our geographical position gives us an unparalleled advantage,” Al Duailej said, speaking at the Global Logistics Forum in the King Abdullah Financial District. 

After the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, the Houthi group in Yemen launched attacks on Red Sea shipping, causing shippers to avoid the waterway and raising insurance costs

As a result, Suez Canal revenues have fallen between 50 and 60 percent, or $6 billion, in the first eight months of this year. 

Saudi Arabia has already spent SAR200 billion ($53.3 billion) of a total SAR3 trillion it intends to spend on becoming a global logistics centre at the nexus of three continents, focusing on ports, rail and aviation. 

Al Duailej said air cargo globally, and not just in Saudi Arabia, was growing because of instability in the Middle East. 

“Global total air cargo demand rose by 13.6 percent in July 2024 compared to last year. It marked the eighth consecutive month of double-digit growth in air cargo,” he said.

Saudi Arabia had become an indispensable player in global trade and logistics, Al Duailej said. 

“Our target is to increase air cargo capacity from 800,000 tons in 2023 to 4.5 million tons by 2030, a five-fold increase,” he said. 

Global demand

Data from the International Air Transport Association showed total global demand for air cargo rose by 11.4 percent year on year in August, the ninth consecutive month of double-digit year-on-year growth.

Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, said this month: “We continue to see very good news in air cargo markets. This strong performance is underpinned by slow but steady growth in global trade, booming ecommerce and continuing capacity constraints on maritime shipping.”

Saudi transport and logistics minister Saleh Al Jasser said the government had been able to shift much of its trade flows from the west coast to the east coast.

“We moved most of our trade to the eastern coast and were prepared for that, we have the infrastructure, the connectivity, we are using Dammam airport, Jubail, Ras al-Khair airports, and train and land transport,” Al Jasser said. 

“We even did our best to help other countries have access to these capabilities and also eased the customs processes.”