Transport in Saudi Arabia is facilitated through a relatively young system of roads, railways and seaways. Most of the network started construction after the discovery of oil in the Eastern Province in 1952, with the notable exception of Highway 40, which was built to connect the capital Riyadh to the economically productive Eastern Province, and later to the Islamic holy city of Mecca and the port city of Jeddah. With the economic growth of the 1970s, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has initiated many infrastructure development projects across the country, and the extensive development of the transportation network has followed suit in support of various economic developments.
A container ship is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport and now carry most seagoing non-bulk cargo.
Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation, without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damage and loss, and allows freight to be transported faster. Reduced costs over road trucking is the key benefit for inter-continental use. This may be offset by reduced timings for road transport over shorter distances.
The Eastern Province, also known as the Eastern Region, is the easternmost of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. It is the nation's largest province by area and the third most populous after the Riyadh and Mecca provinces. In 2017, the population was 4,900,325. Of these, 3,140,362 were Saudi citizens and 1,759,963 were foreign nationals The province accounts for 15.05% of the entire population of Saudi Arabia and is named for its geographical location relative to the rest of the kingdom.
Dammam is the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. With a population of 1,532,300 as of 2022, Dammam is the kingdom's fourth-most populous city after Riyadh, Jeddah, and Mecca. Dammam constitutes the core of the Dammam metropolitan area, also known as the Greater Dammam area, which comprises the 'Triplet Cities' of Dammam, Dhahran, and Khobar. The region is closely linked to the city through social, economic, and cultural ties. As of 2022, the Dammam metropolitan area's population was 2,190,900.
Zayed Port also called Mina Zayed, is a commercial deep-water port owned by the Abu Dhabi Ports that serves Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Established in 1968, Zayed Port is in the northeast section of Abu Dhabi city. It was officially inaugurated and became fully operational in 1972, and is named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the former President of the United Arab Emirates. The transfer of Zayed Port's container traffic to the newly developed US$7.2 billion Khalifa Port container terminal was completed in 2012.
A dry port is an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport, operating as a centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port, also known as JNPT and Nhava Sheva Port, is the second largest container port in India after Mundra Port. Operated by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust Authority (JNPTA), it is located on the eastern shores of Arabian Sea in Navi Mumbai, Raigad district, Maharashtra. This port can be accessed via Thane Creek, a nodal city of Navi Mumbai. It is the main port of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region after Mumbai Port, also of Maharashtra and Western India. Its common name derives from the names of Nhava and Sheva villages that are situated here. It is also the terminal of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor.
The Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) was a state-owned railway company that operated part of Saudi Arabia's rail network, along with the Saudi Railway Company. The SRO operated a network of railways with a total length of approximately 1,380 kilometers. The network consisted of two main lines. A 449 km passenger line that links Dammam with Riyadh, and a 556 km freight line that connects the King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam with Riyadh.
Jeddah Islamic Port is a Saudi Arabian port, located in Jeddah on the Red Sea, at the middle of an international shipping route between the east and west via the Suez Canal. It is the second-largest and second-busiest port in the Arab world. The city of Jeddah is the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia, and is Saudi Arabia's commercial capital.
Yangshan Port, formally the Yangshan Deep-Water Port, is a deep water port for container ships in Hangzhou Bay south of Shanghai. The port is part of the Maritime Silk Road. The port is built on the islands of Greater and Lesser Yangshan, part of the Zhoushan archipelago, with fill from land reclamation. Connected to Shanghai's Pudong New Area by the Donghai Bridge and forming part of the Port of Shanghai, the islands of Greater and Lesser Yangshan are administered separately as part of Zhejiang's Shengsi County.
The Dammam–Riyadh line is a passenger railway line in Saudi Arabia, linking the Eastern Province's capital city of Dammam with the Saudi capital Riyadh. The 449 km (279 mi) line has four stations. It is owned and operated by Saudi Arabia Railways.
Port of Tanjung Priok is the busiest and most advanced seaport in Indonesia, handling more than 50% of Indonesia's trans-shipment cargo traffic. The port is located at Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, which is operated by Indonesian state owned PT Pelindo. The port has 20 terminals for accommodating general cargo, liquid bulk, dry bulk, containers, etc. It has specialised facilities cater to oil tankers, chemical-laden ships, metal scrap and passengers.
Kottayam Port and Container Terminal (KPCT) is the first minor port and Inland Container Depot (ICD) using Inland waterways Kerala state, situated in Nattakom, on the banks of Kodoor river in National Waterway 9. This is also India's first port and ICD to use inland waterway with Customs notified area for Exports & Imports. The port integrates multi-mode freight traffic between Kochi Port and a vast hinterland of Kottayam district, Pathanamthitta district and Idukki district. This is a gateway port for Kottayam.
Lekki Deep Sea Port, is a multi-purpose, deep sea port in the Lagos Free Zone and is the only currently operating deep sea port in the country, having started full commercial operations in April 2023.
Khalifa Port is the Abu Dhabi Ports' flagship deepwater port. It is a gateway to Abu Dhabi and handles all of the emirate’s container traffic. The transfer of container traffic from Zayed Port was completed in December 2012.
Gulftainer is a port operator with its corporate head office in the United Arab Emirates. It was established in 1976.
King Abdul Aziz Port, also known as Dammam Port, is a port in the city of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. It is the largest port in the Persian Gulf, and the third largest and third busiest port in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, after the Jeddah Islamic Port. King Abdul Aziz Port is a major export center for the oil industry, and also a key distribution center for major landlocked cities in the country, particularly the capital cities of provinces, such as Riyadh which is linked to Dammam by a railway line.
Cikarang Dry Port (CDP) is a dry port in Kota Jababeka at Cikarang, West Java, Indonesia. With a total area of 200 hectares, CDP was founded in 2010. It is operated as Indonesia's first and only Integrated Customs Services Zone by PT Cikarang Inland Port, a division of the publicly traded PT Jababeka Tbk. As an inland dry port model, CDP acts as a port extension, that addresses ongoing traffic jams and delays at Tanjung Priok, a significant import/export gateway. The primary goal is to reduce the dwelling time from 3.2 days to the government-mandated 2.5 days.
