Bahrain : The Economic Development Board (EDB) confirmed it will continue to attract investments in the logistics sector to enable its continued growth and further its contribution to the country’s GDP, in support of the Kingdom’s comprehensive development, led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and to achieve the development visions of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Economic Development Board.
The EDB will focus on the subsectors offering companies strong competitive advantages, including integrated logistics services (3PL), courier and express, niche logistics services, as well as eCommerce forward deployment centers which complement the growth of eCommerce within the region. The Kingdom’s strategic location, business-friendly environment, and advanced logistics infrastructure places Bahrain as an ideal location for logistics companies to base their operations.
“The logistics sector is a key component of the national Economic Recovery Plan and is at the heart of our strategy at the EDB. With its multiplier effect on various industries, logistics both supports growth in and benefits from the manufacturing, transportation, and eCommerce sectors while creating opportunities in tourism and ICT,” Khalid Ebrahim Humaidan, EDB CEO said.
“Bahrain’s location, size, infrastructure and competitive operating costs enable operators within this sector to bring supply chains closer, saving time and money, positioning the Kingdom as the ideal hub for companies to access key markets in the region and beyond,” Humaidan said.
Bahrain recently announced an Economic Recovery Plan which includes the development of several priority sectors. The Economic Recovery Plan has set ambitious targets for the development of the logistics sector, and the EDB will work closely with partners in the private and public sectors to further grow this key sector. Targets within the logistics sector include increasing air freight levels to 1 million metric tons, tripling the existing volume, as well as increasing freight volume at the port to 1 million TEUs, doubling the existing volume.
In September 2021, the Kingdom announced the launch of the fastest multi-modal bonded corridor linking airport and sea-port, which will cut costs by 40% with a turnaround time of two hours. The EDB has attracted several global logistics and transportation companies including DHL, Agility, and FedEx.
