RIYADH: Trade between Saudi Arabia and East Africa is set to grow thanks to two new shipping services between the regions operated by Mediterranean Shipping Co.. The transport lanes were announced by the Kingdom’s port authority, also known as Mawani, and will see commerce along the East Africa to Red Sea and Red Sea to Jeddah Islamic Port routes, the Saudi Press Agency reported. This move falls in line with the framework of the initiatives launched by Mawani to achieve its strategic goals of further improving the maritime navigation network connectivity indicator with global shipping services and shipping lines. The new services are also aligned with the objectives of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy by consolidating the Kingdom’s position as a global logistics center and a hub connecting three continents. The direct weekly East Africa to Red Sea service links the ports of Jeddah Islamic and King Abdullah with the port of Djibouti with a transit time of only two days. It also connects the Kenyan port of Mombasa with a transit time of nine days, in addition to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam with a transit time of 12 days. The new shipping service has the capacity of 2,500 standard containers from 730 ships, ensuring competitive transport times that meet the aspirations of both importers and exporters. As for the Red Sea shipping service, it connects Jeddah Islamic Port and King Abdullah Port directly to Port Sudan with a transit time of one day, twice a month. The Red Sea service aims to elevate the reliability of the schedule and the flow of goods with a capacity of 1,000 standard containers. Just last month, Mawani announced the approval of five new shipping services which will help link the Kingdom with as many as 43 international ports, according to a statement. The five new services are projected to support commercial traffic, strengthen the national imports and exports system, as well as provide pioneering alternatives for importers, exporters, and shipping agents, Al-Eqtisadiah reported.