The National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA), the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, came into existence by a Royal Decree in October 1979 to achieve strategic objectives of its owners; the Government of The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques (Public Development Fund) holding approxiamately 29 per cent of NSCSA's capital amounting to SR.2,000 million and the remaining shares owned by Saudi citizens.

Its day-to-day activities are overseen by Khalil Al-Gannas, CEO. 
NSCSA's present chairman is Suleiman J Al-Herbish - who also has held  the position as 'Governor of Opec' and also 'Director General for Opec Funds'.

NSCSA started its operation with a strategy of diversification of income by offering distinct and up to date services in various shipping fields, they claim.

Beginning in 1980 by operating service lines for carrying break bulk and container goods,  they then expanded into transportation of petrochemicals in 1985; the transportation of crude oil in 1996; and the establishment of a ship management company and the container storage and repair yard in 1997.

In the 2001, NSCSA increased its fleet of VLCCs to nine by adding four new vessels and in 2002,the firm established Global Freight Forwarding / NVOCC business. 
In the year 2003, National Chemical Carriers (NCC), a subsidiary of NSCSA, signed contracts for four new petrochemical carriers to increase its fleet capacity to 16.

Crude Oil Transportation
NSCSA presently owns nine double hulled VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers) namely; Ramlah, Ghawar, Watban, Hawtah, Safaniyah, Harad, Marjan, Safwa and Abqaiq with an aggregate barrel capacity exceeding to 19.0 million.  These VLCCs feature top-of-the-range specifications and each carrier has an individual capacity of 2.1 million barrels and a dead weight of over 300,000 tonnes.

Most of the vessels are currently under charter with Vela International Marine, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco.  NSCSA has also inked a business arrangement with ChevronTexaco for transportation of its crude oil. 

Petrochemicals Transportation
NSCSA started transportation of petrochemicals in 1985 by acquiring its own tanker (Uqba Ibn Nafi) with a capacity of 43,000 dead weight tonnes (dwt).

Arabian Chemical Carriers (ACC), which was established jointly with UASC, owns and operates one 41,400 dwt tanker (Al-Farabi), which is financially and commercially managed by NSCSA.  ACC started transporting petrochemicals in 1986.

NSCSA then established a sister company; the National Chemical Carriers Ltd Co (NCC) in 1990 by introducing a fleet of petrochemical carriers. 

During 1995/96 three new modern carriers were added.  In 2003, four newbuildings were signed with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, Korea, with international standards to increase its existing fleet capacity to 16.

The petrochemical carriers are capable of carrying all  chemical products.

Liner Services
NSCSA offers liner service by deploying its four Container/Ro-Ro ships between US (East Coast)-US (Gulf)-Canada-Italy-Middle East and Indian Subcontinent route. 
The vessels are capable of carrying general cargo as well as specialised cargoes like heavy project/strategic cargoes.

Ship Management Function
A ship management company,Mideast Ship Management Ltd (MSML), was established in 1997.  The vision was to have professionally qualified ship manager who would fulfill the requirements of the ship owners. 

Mideast was created as a joint venture company between NSCSA with 80 per cent share and the Acomarit Group of Scotland holding 20 per cent stake.  Mideast is managing a number of vessels which include crude oil and chemical products carriers.  Mideast implemented a strategy to achieve its goal.

The concern is accredited to the standard of ISO-9002, ISM, and SEP by DNV and Lloyd's.

Freight Forwarding & NVOCC Services
NSCSA, in 2002, established a Global Freight Forwarding/NVOCC business mainly to serve the customers with a comprehensive coverage for logistical and distribution network that include packaging, warehousing/storage, ocean/land transportation, documentation and custom clearance. 

With the present infrastructure and investment in NSCSA Information Technology, own container yard and own offices and agencies worldwide, NSCSA is able to offer reliable and cost effective service to its customers.

Container Services Yard
NSCSA, in 1997, invested in on-land facilities, including a container storage and repair yard (having an area of 120,000 sq.m.) in Jeddah Islamic Port, the most important in the Kingdom, to promote better customer services and to minimize loading, handling and operational cost related to import / export units.  A specialized workshop in the yard takes up repair jobs and refurbishes containers according to the international standards.