Industrials

The transport and logistics sectors in the Middle East are witnessing rapid growth and undergoing significant transformation. Liberalization, private-sector participation, and the desire to keep up with the rapidly growing needs of commuters, shippers, travelers, and tourists have all driven sector growth and development.

Strategy& offers transport consulting services for commercial carriers and shippers, public transportation agencies, and other clients in the private and public transport and logistics sectors. Our service offerings include providing expertise in strategy and policy, operations, organizational design, technology, and infrastructure. We apply innovative strategies and technologies that help our clients in the Middle East achieve profitability, business efficiency, greater infrastructure leverage, improvements in the customer experience, and growth or stability — and create value for stakeholders.

Key trends

Middle East engineered products and services are witnessing rapid growth and undergoing significant transformation. Liberalization, private-sector participation, and the desire to keep up with the rapidly growing needs of commuters, shippers, travelers, and tourists have all driven sector development. Key Industry trends are:

Rapidly increasing demand for transport services

This demand is spurred by swift-growing economies and an intensified focus on developing tourism across the region.

Major investments in world-class transportation infrastructure

Significant government investments are being made throughout the region to increase the capacity of transport infrastructure and improve service levels, particularly at airports and seaports.

Open markets

To cater to the demand for transport and logistics services, governments are gradually opening up the various sectors to competition and reducing controls (for example, developing new airline models, abolishing monopolies in public transport).

Increased private-sector participation

The private-sector has been quick to jump on the opportunities made available by the government through privatization and liberalization schemes. The private sector is thus taking an increasing role in the transport sector, either in the form of operators (for example, mass transit, airports, seaports), owners (for example, new airlines), or investors (for example, major build-operate-transfer (BOT) programs for rail and airport infrastructure). Public–private partnerships are on the rise, and their popularity is expected to continue.

Emergence of the Gulf as an established transport and logistics hub

Dubai is now a globally recognized transportation and logistics hub, and other cities and countries are heavily investing to enhance their own network appeal through multimodal schemes backed by investments in infrastructure (for example, logistics parks, sea-to-air multimodal links). In doing so, they are leveraging the region’s central location between Asia and Europe.

Industry restructuring and professionalization

The region is witnessing an unprecedented wave of industry restructuring, with state-owned incumbents leading the way through major reorganization programs, introduction of professional management, and increased transparency in governance. Additionally, private equity and investment houses are heavily investing in new ventures and, along the way, attracting qualified talent from all over the world.

How we help our clients

In order to capture opportunities and derive benefits from investments in the rapidly growing engineering products and services sectors, policymakers, regulators, incumbent state-owned operators, and private-sector owners and operators are called upon to address a number of challenges:

What development strategies and policies are needed to sustain the growth of the engineering products and services sectors and their contribution to the national economy?
How can transport infrastructure investments be planned and prioritized in an integrated and coherent way to maximize the benefits to the economy and mitigate the risks of redundancy?
What are the most appropriate schemes for private-sector participants?
How do they differ by transportation mode? What regulatory frameworks and practices are needed to ensure that such schemes increase efficiency and improve services while balancing the interests of various stakeholders?
What sustainable positioning strategies do airports, ports, and air carriers need in the face of regional and international competition?
Which business models and partnership structures are best suited for effectively delivering on the intended strategic positioning?
How can both public and private organizations build on their capabilities to address the challenges presented by skill shortages and then effectively deliver their intended results?
How can IT systems and emerging technologies be used to support strategy execution and operational improvements?

Strategy& brings together respected individuals who specialize in all the key areas of the engineering products & services sector. Our experience includes aviation, freight and passenger rail, maritime operations, postal and logistics operations, public transport, and highways.

Our team can provide advice on every facet of transportation strategy and planning, mergers and acquisitions, and program management; perform economic and financial analysis; optimize information technology systems; and devise organizational and productivity improvements. We do so by drawing on an international pool of specialized experts.

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