infrastructure
Bahri's 891% Profit Surge Shows How Disrupted Shipping Routes Are Reshaping Saudi Logistics
Saudi Bahri Q3 2026 net profit rose 891% to SAR 5.09bn as freight rates surged. Analysis of tankers, cash flow and fleet expansion.
Author
Sarah Malik
Regional Trade & Infrastructure Editor, Gulf Business Review
Sarah Malik covers trade, transport and infrastructure across the GCC, comparing projects on consistent measures and separating planned capacity from assets already in service.
The beat is reported from official statistics, regulator publications, company filings and named institutional research. Forecasts, commitments and completed outcomes are labelled separately.
Sarah's regional work depends on comparability. Airport passengers, port throughput, rail investment and logistics capacity use different units and project stages, so she preserves the original measure and date rather than forcing unlike infrastructure into one regional ranking.
Her GCC perspective is useful precisely because she keeps the national markets distinct. A project in Saudi Arabia, the UAE or Oman is placed in regional context only after local ownership, status and operating conditions are established, which prevents a Gulf-wide narrative from flattening material differences.
Articles by Sarah Malik
economy
Doha's World Investment Forum Puts Gulf Capital Integration Under Scrutiny
UNCTAD's 25 October opening shifts attention to whether GCC investment policies can turn regional capital into bankable cross-border projects.
energy
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan Discuss an Electricity Exchange Pilot: The Grid Test Ahead
Riyadh's October energy meetings advanced regional power-market discussions, but interconnection capacity and settlement rules will determine actual trade.
infrastructure
Riyadh's Airport Disruption Exposes a Business-Continuity Risk Beyond Aviation
Houthi attacks have disrupted Saudi flights and energy-sector travel. The economic consequences depend on cargo routing, executive mobility and the speed of reliable restoration.
infrastructure
Khorfakkan's Expansion Is Turning Sharjah Into a Test of Gulf Trade Diversification
Sharjah is courting Indian manufacturers as Gulftainer expands Khorfakkan. The prize depends on inland links and real throughput, not headline targets.
technology
Core42 Is Building the UAE's Sovereign AI Infrastructure Layer
How Abu Dhabi-based Core42 is building sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure across the UAE and abroad.
energy
Qatar's LNG Expansion Has a New Constraint: Getting the Equipment In
The first North Field East train remains on schedule for early 2027, but the Hormuz crisis is disrupting equipment deliveries for later trains. The vulnerability is shifting from export routes to project execution.
industry
Saudi Arabia's New Defence Pact Is About to Face Its First Industrial Test
Houthi attacks are turning a new Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani security framework from diplomatic language into a test of technical support, procurement and localisation.
technology
Microsoft Is Putting More Than $10 Billion Into Gulf AI. Resilience Is Now Part of the Investment Case
The next phase of Gulf cloud competition is not only about GPUs and megawatts. Microsoft is pairing new AI capacity with subsea links, sovereign cloud and infrastructure designed to survive regional disruption.
energy
Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline Is Showing Why Hormuz Risk Is Not the Same as a Gulf Export Shutdown
The restart of Saudi Arabia's route to Yanbu is easing oil prices and exposing a crucial distinction in the Gulf crisis: chokepoint disruption raises costs dramatically without stopping every barrel.
energy
Strait of Hormuz Traffic Falls to Two Ships as Gulf Export Risks Intensify
Tracked commercial traffic through the Strait fell dramatically below pre-conflict norms, reinforcing the cost and capacity pressure now running through Gulf oil and shipping markets.
infrastructure
Saudi East-West Pipeline Shutdown Puts the Kingdom's Hormuz Bypass Under Pressure
The pipeline was built to give Saudi crude a route to the Red Sea without crossing Hormuz. Its precautionary shutdown shows why alternative export infrastructure has become part of the oil price itself.
infrastructure
Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Oil Export System: Pipeline, Yanbu and the Routes Beyond Hormuz
Saudi Arabia's western oil system combines the East-West Pipeline with Yanbu terminals and access to Suez, SUMED and the Cape route, creating the Gulf's deepest alternative to Hormuz.
infrastructure
Saudi Arabia vs UAE: Which Country Has More Capacity to Bypass Hormuz?
Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline and the UAE's Fujairah route are the Gulf's two major operating oil bypass systems, but capacity, destination and spare headroom differ sharply.
infrastructure
Hormuz Is Only One Chokepoint: How Gulf Oil Moves Through Bab el-Mandeb and Suez
Rerouting Saudi crude to the Red Sea reduces Hormuz exposure but can create dependence on Bab el-Mandeb, Suez and SUMED, turning oil security into a chain of bottlenecks.
infrastructure
Why Spare Pipeline Capacity Is Geopolitical Insurance for Oil Exporters
Unused pipeline capacity can look inefficient in normal markets. During a shipping disruption it becomes an option that preserves exports, pricing power and customer relationships.
infrastructure
Saudi East-West Pipeline Shutdown Exposes the Gulf's Most Important Oil Bypass Route
Saudi Arabia shut the East-West Pipeline as a precaution after multiple attacks. The outage matters because the line is the Kingdom's principal crude-export alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
infrastructure
Saudi East-West Pipeline Explained: Route, Capacity and Why It Bypasses Hormuz
The East-West Pipeline connects Saudi Arabia's eastern oil system with Yanbu on the Red Sea, giving the Kingdom its most important physical alternative to exporting crude through Hormuz.
infrastructure
Yanbu Oil Infrastructure: Why Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Export System Matters
Yanbu turns the East-West Pipeline into an export alternative by combining Red Sea terminals, storage and industrial infrastructure on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from Hormuz.
investment
Saudi Arabia and the UAE Are Absorbing Most of the Gulf's Next-Dollar Attention
Gulf Business Review audience research shows Saudi Arabia and the UAE dominate hypothetical new investment allocation, while the six GCC markets retain distinct risk and sector profiles.
technology
Power and Cooling Are the Real Constraints Behind Gulf AI Data Centres
Why power connections, cooling design and commissioning timelines matter as much as capital in the Gulf's AI data-centre buildout.
technology
Beyond Saudi Arabia and the UAE: Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait's Cloud and Data-Centre Markets
A comparative guide to the smaller GCC cloud and data-centre markets, with local enterprise infrastructure kept separate from the larger Saudi and UAE AI-campus race.
technology
GCC Data Centre Capacity Tracker: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait
A country-by-country tracker of GCC data-centre, cloud-region and AI infrastructure development, with operating capacity separated from announced projects.
infrastructure
Strait of Hormuz Traffic Is Still Constrained. The Gulf's Alternative Export Routes Matter More Every Week
Strait of Hormuz shipping remains constrained in September 2026. We track oil flows, current risks and the Gulf pipelines and ports that can bypass the chokepoint.
infrastructure
Qatar and UAE LNG Cargoes Used Rare Ship-to-Ship Transfers Outside Hormuz
Three Qatar and UAE LNG cargoes used unusual ship-to-ship transfers outside the Strait of Hormuz in 2026, highlighting Gulf export-route resilience and risk.
policy
A Gulf Market Entry Plan Should Be Built Country First
Regional ambition is sensible; licences, tax, customers and hiring still need six national operating cases.
infrastructure
How the Gulf Is Building Around the Strait of Hormuz
The current disruption has turned alternative pipelines, Red Sea ports and eastern UAE infrastructure from strategic insurance into active commercial capacity.
infrastructure
Which Gulf Oil Export Routes Can Bypass the Strait of Hormuz?
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have the region's most important existing alternatives, but capacity and product type limit how much trade can be redirected.
infrastructure
The Gulf's Largest Container Ports: Scale, Location and What Throughput Really Measures
Jebel Ali remains the region's defining container hub, while Jeddah, Khalifa, Salalah and Sohar compete through different combinations of domestic cargo, transshipment and industrial demand.
finance
GCC Banks Held $837 Billion in Net Foreign Assets. Location Matters
The regional position says little about which institutions, currencies and maturities carry the exposure.
infrastructure
GCC Railway in 2026: What Is Actually Built, and What Still Has to Connect
The Gulf has extensive national rail investment, but a seamless six-country freight and passenger network remains a cross-border delivery project rather than a finished system.
economy
Intra-GCC Tourism Reached 29.8 Million. Commercial Value Still Varies
Regional visitors are important, but nights, spending and transport mode determine the benefit to each market.
infrastructure
Gulf Port Rankings Break When Cargo Types Are Mixed
Containers, bulk cargo and transshipment measure different businesses and should not be collapsed into one league table.
infrastructure
Gulf Electricity Production Reached 784.9 TWh. Networks Decide Its Value
Generation volume shows scale, while peaks, reserve margins and transmission constraints determine reliability and cost.
startups
Jad Antoun Built Huspy Around the Friction of Buying a Home in Dubai
How Jad Antoun built Dubai-based Huspy around mortgages, property discovery and the fragmented process of buying a home.
economy
Gulf Tourism Numbers Need Origin, Nights and Spending
Arrivals show movement, while overnight stays, source markets and receipts show the commercial value of demand.
finance
Hosam Arab Built Tabby After Learning E-Commerce From the Inside
How Hosam Arab and Daniil Barkalov built Tabby from BNPL into a broader Gulf financial-services platform.
finance
GCC Bank Assets Reached $3.9 Trillion. Size Is the First Test
The total shows financial depth, while funding, credit structure and consolidation decide whether banks are comparable.
infrastructure
The Gulf's Desalination Scale Is Also a Power Question
GCC states produced 7.6 billion cubic metres of desalinated water in 2024, creating a long market for efficient plants and networks.
companies
Kitopi's Mohamad Ballout Turned a Cloud-Kitchen Startup Into a Regional Hospitality Group
How Mohamad Ballout and Kitopi evolved from managed cloud kitchens into a broader Gulf hospitality company.
finance
What Gulf Currency Pegs Do, and Do Not, Remove
Dollar links reduce one exchange-rate risk but leave rates, funding costs and third-currency exposures intact.
economy
How Large Is the GCC Economy? Start With a Consistent Measure
GCC-Stat puts 2024 output at about $2.3 trillion at current prices, a useful scale measure that does not make six economies one market.