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Home > Business/Finance > Diversified Services > Shipping & Logistics
Bahrain Freight Transport Report 2008
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Although temporarily held up for political reasons, in 2007 APM Terminals Bahrain, a subsidiary of
Danish shipping company Maersk, was proceeding with its contract to operate and expand the country’s
main ports. A royal decree of November 2006 privatising the operation of Mina Salman port and the new
Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman port at Hidd, and transferring their management on a 25-year concession basis
to APM terminals was challenged in parliament in April 2007 and at one stage looked deadlocked.
Eventually however the decree received parliamentary backing on a 20-18 vote. This cleared the way for
APM Terminals to press on with work at Khalifa bin Salman, expected to open in 2008 and to become a
hub for upper Gulf cargo. In our new Bahrain Freight Transport Report, BMI concludes that maritime
cargo tonnage is set to grow at around 5.1% per annum over the next five years.
Various factors support this prediction. The economy, expanding at around 5.2% per annum, will support
freight demand as will foreign trade (albeit at a slower pace). With an advanced transport infrastructure
and competitive ports, Bahrain will be well placed to maximise sea freight opportunities. The FTA with
the US should also play its part.
The outlook for the rest of the freight sector is good. By transport mode, we expect the fastest growing to
be air cargo, which will expand by an annual average of 8.8%, supported by the eventual recovery of
Gulf Air. It will be followed by sea freight, supported by the new FTA with the US and an upgrade of
facilities at the two ports now managed by APM Terminals Bahrain. We expect pipeline throughput to
broadly follow GDP at 7.1% per annum. We estimate that road haulage will lag behind GDP a little, at
5.7% per annum. A boost is likely outside our forecast period (i.e. after 2010) when the proposed
causeway to Qatar is expected to come into operation. Bahrain scores above the regional average in our
freight industry business environment ranking, doing particularly well on long-term economic risk, and
on the competitive and regulatory environments. It is below the regional average on freight transport
growth and transport intensity (a measure of foreign trade dynamism).
According to our latest estimates, the total value of transport and communications GDP will rise to
US$1.58bn in nominal terms by 2011, representing 7.4% of Bahrain’s GDP. There are no official figures
on the number of people employed by the transport sector.
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