Too many air and sea ports, not enough trade in the Middle East

© Khunaspix Dreamstime.

It has long been of interest – and concern – to observers of the logistics industry: capacity in the Middle East. The apparent attempts by various countries and emirates in the region to outdo each other on building port and airport infrastructure will inevitably lead to too much capacity in the region, world’s trading post or not. Here, it is shown that trade will have to grow at about 10% annually to fill all the capacity, while lack of dialogue between the regional players will lead to “a lot of white elephants” in what is becoming a “dysfunctional” market.