Optimizing Port Operations to Meet Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 Logistics Goals
The Challenge: Port Congestion and Inefficiency
Saudi Arabia’s major ports, including King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam and King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu are seeing rapid increases in trade volumes. Sectors such as petrochemicals, chemicals, and food & beverage are fuelling this expansion. For instance, King Abdullah Port, ranked the most efficient port globally by the World Bank in 2023, is undergoing expansion to handle over 20 million TEUs annually. Additionally, NEOM’s Oxagon is emerging as the world’s largest floating industrial hub.
While this momentum supports the country’s ambitions under Vision 2030, it also introduces increasing complexity such as port congestion, container delays, and inefficiencies in cargo movement causing costly friction across operations.
These issues contribute to higher demurrage fees, increased turnaround times, and compromised supply chain reliability.
These bottlenecks don’t just disrupt shipping schedules, its ripple effect impacts downstream manufacturing, inventory cycles, and customer commitments across global markets. To fulfill its role as a logistics leader, Saudi Arabia must shift toward real-time, intelligent decision-making at the port level.
Decklar is helping achieve that shift. With an AI-native architecture, edge-decisioning, and sensorless monitoring capabilities, it delivers a real-time platform purpose built for port environments. Its ability to contextualize multimodal movement across ports, yards, and warehouse nodes positions it as a key enabler of Vision 2030 logistics agility. To see how inventory stress downstream can be anticipated and managed at the planning level, explore Dynamic Replenishment Planning.
How Decklar Helps: AI Powered Real Time Decisions for Smarter Port Operations
Decklar addresses these challenges through real-time unified visibility and an AI Powered decision intelligence platform that connects physical cargo with digital intelligence. Rather than passively showing what’s happening, Decklar empowers port operators and supply chain managers to take timely, data-driven actions that reduce inefficiencies at every stage by integrating live data from shipping schedules, sensor and non-sensor signals.
Here’s how it works:
1. Real-Time Shipment Visibility:
Decklar enables continuous visibility of container movement: from vessel arrival through yard transfer to warehouse entry, powered by Decision AI that delivers actionable insights beyond traditional visibility tools. This enables stakeholders to identify choke points, dwell time anomalies, and target improvements.
2. Predictive and Proactive Decision-Making:
Using live dashboards and predictive insights, we help logistics teams anticipate congestion, reschedule pickups, reroute containers or reallocate handling resources before problems escalate.
3. Automated Exception Alerts When it Matters:
If a shipment faces unexpected delays, is stuck in customs, or exceeds dwell time thresholds, Decklar sends immediate alerts in real time and suggest mitigation actions to protect downstream operations.
Local Relevance: Why This Matters for Saudi Arabia
As King Abdulaziz Port alone handles over 25% of Saudi Arabia’s petrochemical exports, the performance of these ports is critical to its non-oil diversification goals. Vision 2030 places greater emphasis on transforming Saudi Arabia into a regional logistics and supply chain powerhouse. Hence, improving operational efficiency at ports is no longer optional, it’s strategic. With rising throughput targets and growing demand for export precision, relying on traditional workflows is no longer viable. Ports need intelligent systems capable of analyzing and guiding supply chain decisions in real time to keep pace with the country’s industrial growth. Decklar’s AI-native platform is purpose-built for that role.
Real-World Impact: Multi-Million Dollar Savings Through Visibility and Risk Intelligence
A leading global tobacco manufacturer leveraged Decklar to address delays, reduce risk, and optimize logistics across key lanes. By using predictive alerts, AI-based risk analysis across key lanes , the company significantly addressed demurrage and detention (D&D) charges, minimized insurance claims, and improved overall supply chain resilience.
More importantly, these results were achieved without expanding infrastructure or manpower, demonstrating how data-driven decision-making can drive measurable gains.
Conclusion: Enabling Vision 2030 Through Data-Driven Port Decisions
Saudi Arabia’s logistics transformation depends on more than just location insights. It depends on knowing what actions to take next. Decklar equips port operators and supply chain leaders with a Decision AI layer that enables them to actively steer outcomes across the supply chain proactively. The result: fewer delays, smarter resource allocation, and measurable gains in efficiency.
As the Kingdom accelerates its Vision 2030 objectives especially in logistics infrastructure and industrial exports, Decision AI platforms like Decklar are essential to future-proof port operations and ensure sustainable growth. The future of Saudi Arabia’s port performance won’t be built on static dashboards, it will be shaped by dynamic, data-driven decision-making.
As, Manjunaath Thyagaraajan, Director – Customer Success (EME & India) at Decklar, aptly puts it: “Port digitization isn’t about visibility for the sake of it. It’s about turning real-time data into real operational wins. At Decklar we don’t just provide real-time cargo insights, we unlock measurable efficiency where it counts.”
Curious how Decklar can elevate your port operations in the Middle East? Request a Free Demo and explore the power of data-driven decisions.
You can also learn more on how Dynamic Replenishment Planning can reduce stockouts by up to 30%, and how Automated Quality Release helps reduce product rejections and speed up port-to-shelf timelines. These capabilities integrate seamlessly with port operations to deliver end-to-end visibility and execution precision.
