RIYADH: The Saudi Ports Authority, also known as Mawani, has signed a deal with Marasi Marine Services Co. to establish Seafarers Club at Jeddah Islamic Port, King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam and Ras Tanura Port. According to a Saudi Press Agency report, the Seafarers Club will be established to provide housing and entertainment services to local and international ship crews and international shipping lines. This will improve port facilities in the Kingdom, in line with the goals outlined in Vision 2030. The Seafarers Club will have various amenities including a hotel, call centers, cafes, entertainment halls, various restaurants, a food commodity store, and a health club. The club will also have exchange and banking services, along with places to provide integrated pharmaceutical and medical services. Mawani has been working steadily to strengthen the position of Saudi ports as a part of the Kingdom’s National Transport and Logistics Strategy. Earlier this month, Mawani launched a project worth SR7 billion ($1.9 billion) to upgrade and develop two container terminals at the King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam. The project has been awarded to Saudi Global Ports on a build-operate-transfer basis. Meanwhile, Mawani, in another report noted that ports in Saudi Arabia recorded a rise of 13 percent in the volume of cargo handled in 2022, reaching 237 million tons. The Kingdom’s ports also recorded a 3.2 percent increase in containers handled to 10.36 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2022, compared to 10.04 million TEUs in 2021. In December, Mawani signed a deal with Danish shipping company Maersk to operate a 30,000 sq.m refrigerated storage center in King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam city. In June 2022, during an exclusive interview with Arab News, Sulaiman Al-Mazroua, CEO of the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program, said that Saudi Arabia would provide the right business environment to attract global shipping companies to operate in the Kingdom. Al-Mazroua further added that Saudi Arabia’s logistics sector needs huge investment combined between the government and private sector by 2030, to materialize its Vision 2030 goals.