While the Middle East is starting to feel the ripple effect from the global economic crisis due to its reliance of trade from China, the region as a whole still presents a brighter scenario for expansion. While air freight volume continue to decline, sea freight container volumes, in Dubai for example, grew by 17% in the first half of 2008 compared with the same period the previous year. This year will also witness the opening of Dubai Logistics City (DLC), an integrated logistics and multimodal transport platform. A number of global and regional logistics providers with major operations in the Middle East, such as GAC Logistics, Aramex, Agility, TNT and others, see major opportunities, and have announced major expansion plans, both within the region and in other parts of the world, particularly Asia. GAC has reserved a 200,000 sq m plot at DLC. TNT Express has announced the extension of its road network in the Middle East to include destinations such as Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Yemen. With the major logistics infrastructure developments under way in the Middle East, particularly Dubai, further initiatives are expected to be announced over the next few years.
