Market Update Region MEA

Market Update

Thank you for visiting our page and showing interest in our MEA Market Reader. Below you will find brief summaries for a quick overview of the latest supply chain developments in the Middle East and Africa region. You can download the full version from the beside section for a more in-depth analysis.

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Summary of the Market Update 06/2024

Developments in the Middle East and Africa

South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 32.9% in Q2 2024
Qatar's Economic Forum from 14 -16th May hosting 100+ global leaders
DP World expands the UAE's maritime capabilities with the Mina Al Hamriya expansion
Mauritius and the UAE sign a MoU to boost energy cooperation
Saudi Arabia's economy contracted by 1.8% in Q1 2024, due to decreasing oil output

- Weekly price average at the end of CW 21 is at $99.75/bbl – a decrease of 1% vs the prior week and 5.5% vs the prior month
- All operations at Dubai International (DXB) will be transferred to Al Maktoum International (DWC) over the next few years. A new Dh128-billion passenger terminal at the DWC will scale up passenger capacity to 260 million annually and “fully absorb” DXB’s operations in 10 years
- Emirates will begin daily flights from Miami to Bogotá starting June 3rd. The service, operated by a Boeing 777 passenger aircraft, will run every day from Monday to Sunday. Additionally, Emirates will resume its Boeing 777-300ER flights from Phnom Penh to Dubai starting May 1st, after a four-year pause
- Qatar Airways is planning an investment in a southern African airline in order to expand its network on the continent
- Challenge Group launches Dubai-Liège freighter flights
- Schedule reliability reversed its improving M/M trend and declined by -2.5 percentage points M/M in April 2024. This figure is now only 0.6 percentage points higher than the lowest YTD point of January 2024. On a Y/Y level, schedule reliability in April 2024 was -12.1 percentage points lower
- Despite the drop in schedule reliability, the average delay for LATE vessel arrivals improved, decreasing by -0.31 days M/M to 4.74 days. This figure is now squarely in the middle of the analyzed period, closer to the pre-pandemic lows than the pandemic highs. On a Y/Y level, the April 2024 figure was 0.40 days higher
- Schedule reliability increased on Asia-NAWC by 9.6 percentage points M/M to 58.8% and on Asia-NAEC by 2.5 percentage points M/M to 40.1%. Asia-NEUR increased M/M by 5.4 percentage points and Asia-MED increased by 3.6 percentage points M/M to 42.6% and 43.5%, respectively. Schedule reliability decreased M/M on Transatlantic Eastbound by -1.8 percentage points and increased on Transatlantic Westbound by 1.2 percentage points to 59.3% and 52.3%, respectively. Asia-NAWC recorded the largest M/M increase of 9.6 percentage points to 58.8%. ECSA-Asia recorded the largest M/M decrease of -17.3 percentage points to 41.1%. Europe-Oceania recorded the largest Y/Y increase of 18.1 percentage points to 60.0% and Africa-Asia recorded the largest Y/Y decline of -33.9 percentage points to 35.7%
- Delays decreased on Asia-NAWC by -1.03 days and decreased on Asia-NAEC by -0.33 days M/M to 4.36 and 5.55 days, respectively. Delays decreased on Asia-NEUR by -0.58 days and on Asia-ED by -1.68 days M/M to 4.88 and 5.00 days, respectively. Delays increased on Transatlantic Eastbound by 0.27 days M/M and decreased on Transatlantic Westbound by -0.58 days M/M to 4.67 and 4.55 days, respectively. Europe-Indian Sub. recorded the largest M/M decrease of -3.03 days to 6.57 days and ECSA-Asia recorded the largest M/M increase of 0.69 days to 5.04 days. Oceania-Asia recorded the largest Y/Y decrease in delays of -2.27 days to 4.33 days, while the largest Y/Y increase was in Asia-ECSA of 3.73 days to 6.16 days
- Port congestion globally is worsening and has tied up 2m TEU worth of ships, nearly 7% of the fleet, which is lending support to carrier rate hikes