Saudi Sets Stage for 2034

By Simon West

Saudi Arabia’s World Cup countdown is driving demand for breakbulk and project cargo. Read on to discover where your next big project could be.

From Issue 5, 2025 of Breakbulk Magazine.

(5-minute read)

With its vast pipeline of megaprojects and a growing track record of holding world-class events and expos, you may be forgiven for underestimating the significance of Saudi Arabia staging the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

Governing body FIFA’s announcement in late-2024 confirming the kingdom would host the largest and most widely watched sporting event on the planet marked a crowning moment in Saudi Arabia’s decades-long effort to position itself on the global stage.

“Anyway you cut the cake, it’s massive for Saudi,” said Lars Greiner, managing director of multipurpose business at Red Sea Gateway Terminals (RSGT). “To host the World Cup is a big deal for them and a very big source of pride for the Saudi people.”

Saudi Arabia will become the second Middle East country to host the tournament after Qatar in 2022, but its far greater size means the logistics of moving materials and equipment will be a whole different ball game.

Jigar Shah, director of projects and third-party logistics at JSL Global, said major items for the Qatar World Cup typically came in through Hamad Port and Hamad International Airport, then hauled short distances in a “tightly run operation” that relied on local capacity and smooth last-mile delivery.

In contrast, Saudi Arabia’s World Cup will pose a “mega-logistics challenge” involving multiple border crossings, inter-city scheduling, grueling road trips and resource competition with giga-projects. Cargo will arrive at various gateways including Jeddah Islamic Port and King Abdullah Port on the Red Sea and Dammam on the Gulf.

“Saudi 2034 will be closer to running five simultaneous mini-World Cups rather than one compact event,” Shah said.

Plans for the tournament are closely tied to Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia’s blueprint to shake up its fossil fuel-dependent economy and lure investment into more sustainable, private sector-driven industries. Many stadiums and related infrastructure are being developed as integrated assets within larger masterplan projects, such as NEOM on the Red Sea coast and Qiddiya on the outskirts of capital city Riyadh.

Unlike Qatar, Saudi Arabia has the advantage of staging several major “dry run” events before the World Cup, including the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup in 2027, the Asian Winter Games in 2029 and Riyadh’s World Expo 2030.

“It helps them with organizing, but also from a construction point of view it gives them an impetus to get going on some of the groundwork in advance,” said Colin Foreman, editor and construction specialist at the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED).

Turning Vision Into Venues

Billions of dollars are expected to be invested in stadium construction and other major infrastructure projects to support the World Cup, guaranteeing opportunities for breakbulk and project cargo for years to come.

Saudi Arabia’s bid document pledges 15 stadiums across five host cities — eight in Riyadh, four in Jeddah and one each in NEOM, Abha and Al Khobar. Four of those stadiums are existing but will be extensively renovated, three have already begun construction and eight are planned newbuilds.

In comparison, Qatar scaled back its original 12-stadium plan for the 2022 World Cup, ultimately building seven new stadiums and renovating one. Russia added nine new stadiums and renovated three for 2018, while Brazil built seven and renovated five for 2014.

In Saudi Arabia, multibillion-dollar contracts for stadium work have been inked, with international and Saudi firms already on site.

BESIX Group, a Belgian conglomerate that worked on Qatar’s Khalifa and Al Janoub stadiums for the 2022 World Cup, has partnered with local constructor Al Bawani to design and build the Aramco Stadium in Al Khobar in Saudi’s Eastern Province. The 46,000-seat arena broke ground in mid-2024 and is expected to be ready for the AFC Asian Cup in 2027.

In Riyadh, Saudi Binladin Group has begun redeveloping and expanding the King Fahd Sports City Stadium, securing a SAR 2 billion (about US$530 million) financing facility from Saudi Awwal Bank in April to support the project. Work to boost the arena’s capacity from 58,000 to 70,200 began in 2024 and is slated for completion in 2026. U.S.-headquartered infrastructure consulting firm AECOM will serve as a key partner for the overhaul.

Elsewhere, a joint venture between Beijing-based China Railway Construction Company (CRCC) and local contractor Sama Construction has broken ground on the Jeddah Central Development Stadium, while Spain’s FCC Construction and Saudi Arabia’s Nesma and Partners have teamed up to build the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium at Qiddiya.

Meanwhile, tendering for Riyadh’s King Salman International Stadium is expected to begin this year. The 92,760- seat arena, the jewel in Saudi Arabia’s World Cup crown, has been designed by U.S. architects Populous and will host the tournament’s opening and final matches.

“To be honest, I’ve been surprised by the progress,” Foreman said. “I thought they would have spent a little bit longer in the planning and design phase, but the stadiums have come on quite a bit quicker. Does that mean all of them will be ready for 2027 (and the Asian Cup?) No. But it does mean that the ones for 2034 are progressing more quickly than perhaps you would have expected.”

An Opening to Seize

Logistics specialists will be in high demand to support new stadium construction and renovations. Work will range from moving machinery for ground preparation and piling to transporting material and oversized components. Stadium projects will require vast quantities of steel sourced both domestically and through imports, along with concrete, glass, HVAC and MEP systems, cables, seating, turf and other oversized loads.

In addition to the stadiums, 10 team base camps are being planned in the cities of AlUla, Medina, Al Baha, Tabuk, Hail, Umluj, Buraidah, Taif, Jazan and Al Ahsa, creating further demand for construction and logistics.

Saudi Arabia has also pledged more investment in airports, public transport systems, roads and bridges to handle the influx of visitors during the four-week tournament. As the first sole host of the expanded 48-team World Cup (the 2026 and 2030 versions will also feature 48 teams, but shared across multiple nations), the kingdom is likely to surpass the 1.4 million international visitors who traveled to Qatar in 2022.

Bilal Mian, regional director at Hamco Logistics, an approved project logistics partner for Saudi Telecom Company (STC), said he expects additional cargo-carrying opportunities to come from the power sector, as utility firms work to strengthen the national grid amid surging consumer and industrial demand.

“We’ve been working with key players in the Saudi market for a long time. We’re pretty sure we’re going to get a big chunk from the upcoming FIFA projects,” Mian said.

Lessons From Doha

Breakbulk movers may want to look to Qatar 2022, where various supply chain challenges had to be overcome to keep projects on track.

GAC Qatar managed the customs clearance and local delivery of more than 3,500 containers and several breakbulk shipments for the Al Rayyan, Lusail and 974 stadium projects. Tushar Datir, group director of logistics, pointed to the high-security environment and “exceptionally tight” timelines.

“Each shipment had to be cleared within a single working day, and their delivery was planned in line with the number of containers contractors could offload daily,” Datir said. “One of the biggest challenges was aligning the unloading schedules at the construction sites, but we overcame this by staggering arrivals to reduce the impact on costs and ease the cargo flow.”

According to Datir, most of the cargo used for stadium construction was structural steel, much of it loaded in 40-foot-high cube containers and flat racks. Oversized steel units up to 25 meters long were carried as breakbulk and delivered on extendable trailers.

JSL Global, a member of The Heavy Lift Group, was charged with marshalling two shipments of heavy steel structures for one of the Qatari stadium projects. After the steel had arrived from China into Hamad Port, JSL Global deployed port MAFIs and heavy low-bed trailers for last-mile delivery.

“Challenges included arranging special trucks and permits to enter restricted and narrow areas of stadiums under construction,” Shah said. “You also had to contend with tight urban areas for heavy-lift deliveries as well as high-temperature working restrictions in Qatar.”

Datir and Shah agreed that Qatar’s staging of the World Cup has helped raise the country’s standards for logistics and supply chain coordination.

“The World Cup highlighted the relevance of working with tighter timelines, more transparent coordination and stricter security protocols than ever before. These practices have carried over to other sectors, creating a higher baseline for project execution,” Datir said.

Positioning for the Long Game

According to Foreman, Saudi Arabia’s logistics sector has faced concerns over having enough contractors and suppliers to meet soaring demand, worries that peaked about two years ago.

“Over the last 18 months, as the project pipeline has gotten bigger and bigger, they’ve prioritized the projects that they’re focusing on. And the World Cup is one of them. So some of those concerns in terms of supply chain overload have dissipated quite significantly over the last year.”

Logistics companies operational in Saudi Arabia are moving fast to prepare for the exciting opportunities, investing in assets and boosting their on-the-ground presence.

Hamco Logistics is expanding warehouse space across Saudi Arabia and beefing up its heavy-lift fleet with 20 new trucks in Jeddah to meet rising demand at NEOM, while Roll Group this year launched a new 15,000 square-meter facility equipped with heavy-duty equipment at Jubail in the Eastern Province.

Companies are also joining forces to tap into Saudi’s thriving project sector. CEVA Logistics and Almajdouie Logistics last year launched their new venture, CEVA-Almajdouie Logistics, while Japan-headquartered DENZAI formed a JV called FTE Logistics with Saudi road haulage specialist Fawaz Alshammari Co. For Transportation.

More recently, RSGT expanded its footprint into multipurpose terminal operations after securing 20-year concessions to operate and develop four port facilities on the Red Sea coast. The deals, signed with the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) and backed by a planned US$418 million investment, grant RSGT operational responsibility at Jeddah Islamic Port, King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu, Yanbu Commercial Port and the Port of Jazan.

The move will allow the terminal to capture emerging opportunities in roll-on, roll-off (ro-ro), breakbulk, bulk and project cargo, all sectors aligned with Saudi Arabia’s evolving industrial base, Greiner said.

“The terminals are beautiful with a lot of potential,” Greiner said. “These are strategically located terminals and to a large degree very open and developable. And they’re vital for development, not just for the World Cup. Our role is to turn these into world-class assets to support industrialization and industrial growth.”

RSGT is now focusing on the handover before working out the long-term plan for the terminals and the types of cargo it will be targeting, with Greiner highlighting Jeddah’s potential to become a global hub for ro-ro and machinery.

Ready for Kickoff?

Whichever way you look at it, staging a World Cup is a huge undertaking. The Saudis will be buoyed by the success of Qatar 2022.

And while 2022 was a standalone national project, Saudi Arabia’s tournament is one piece of a much broader development drive, Foreman said, adding that the nation’s extensive experience in developing multibillion-dollar oil and gas projects has given it the know-how to handle the challenge.

Visiting fans, meanwhile, may be surprised by a Saudi Arabia that is increasingly open and welcoming.

“Going to Saudi Arabia over the last five years has become a lot easier. The immigration system’s a lot better. The airports operate more efficiently. It’s getting better all the time,” Foreman said. “I would imagine by 2034, they’ll be in a much better place than they are even today to handle a World Cup.”

GAC, JSL Global, RSGT, Roll Group, CEVA-Almajdouie Logistics and Mawani are exhibitors at Breakbulk Middle East.

Top photo: Saudi fans will be hoping for success in 2034. Credit: Shutterstock
Second: Artist's impression of King Salman International Stadium, Riyadh. Credit: saudi2034.com.sa
Third: GAC was heavily involved in supporting the buildout of Qatar 2022. Credit: GAC Qatar