The 4th edition of the Saudi Maritime Congress will welcome senior professionals from regional and international maritime, shipping and logistics communities with the aim to revolutionise the shipping and logistics sectors in the Kingdom and the GCC.

Chris Morley, Group Director of Seatrade Maritime, the event's organisers, said: "Progress on maritime transport infrastructure forms part of a wider strategy aimed at developing the domestic ports and logistics sector. We expect maritime logistics to be a fast-growing activity in 2023-27, supported by the government's ambitious aim of making Saudi Arabia the leading regional logistics hub."

The exhibition and conference will take place on September 20 and 21 at Dhahran Expo, Dammam, KSA, following a successful event in 2022 that saw an international audience of 3,757 visitors participate, including key maritime executives, leading suppliers of marine equipment and services, and crucially, those responsible for shaping the KSA maritime landscape for the future.

Emphasising the importance of the congress, several key industry names have signed up to make industry and keynote addresses, including Nancy Karigithu, Principal Secretary, State Department for Shipping and Maritime, Kenya; Erik Jensby, Head of Business Development and Membership, BIMCO; and John McDonald, EVP, and COO, ABS.

Panel sessions across the two days will be short and sharp, with over 30 speakers lined up to discuss topics ranging from ship management, maritime education, ESG, to mega strategies for the Kingdom's maritime industry future, container shipping & tanker freight market update, offshore, and maritime logistics.

Complementing the programme is a bustling exhibition with participating companies such as MAWANI, IMI, Transport Global Authority, Saudi Global Ports, Grandweld, Naghi Marine Company, ASRY, and more.

Through its comprehensive and free-to-attend conference programme, the Congress will delve into Vision2030 and its objectives for the maritime and logistics sectors.

"The improvements in Saudi maritime logistics are expected to boost port revenue, an increasingly important non-oil source of growth. By building out inland logistics hubs and enhancing rail connectivity, the Kingdom is looking to more than quadruple the country's annual container throughput to 40 million TEU by 2030. The ambitions of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan are quite clearly matched by the scale of so-called giga projects such as the $500 billion Neom scheme or the plans for the Oxagon port, which will be the largest floating structure in the world," added Morley.