Despite the challenges of the past couple of years, Bahrain’s transportation strategy has remained focused, stated Shaikh Ahmed bin Isa bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the Undersecretary for Ports and Maritime Affairs.He was giving his keynote address at the 18th Trans Middle East 2022 Exhibition and Conference, held at The Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Residence and Spa in Bahrain, on Wednesday.“At the core of this strategy is the recently launched global sea-to-air logistics hub in the region, which affirms the kingdom’s strategic position midway between European and Asian markets as well as its proximity to regional target markets,” he added.The two-day event, being held under the patronage of Engineer Kamal bin Ahmed Mohamed, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, is the first maritime event held in the kingdom since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world.According to Shaikh Ahmed, this hub relies on a seamlessly integrated infrastructure consisting of capabilities across land, air and sea transport, and once complete, is expected to lead to 40 per cent cost savings compared to airfreight and 50 per cent faster lead time than pure sea freight, with only a two-hour turnaround time for all containers.Additionally, the full airport modernisation programme, setting up of a new cargo zone near the airport for which it has confirmed Fedex as an anchor tenant, and the passing of the new maritime law are other major efforts which have boosted the kingdom’s maritime services.“We have just recently succeeded in passing into law a new maritime code, which is the first major update to the law and brings Bahrain into par with other countries,” Al Khalifa said in his address, and added: “The new law and regulations are designed to ensure that our main commercial port, the Khalifa bin Salman Port (KBSP), provides the highest efficiencies possible in port and logistics services.”Lauding the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications efforts, Al Khalifa said that despite the global slowdown over the past two year, the Ministry in 2021 witnessed an increase of over 40 per cent in maritime licensing activities over the previous year with a 45 per cent increase in new licenses issued.Maureen Bannerman, Managing Director, APM Terminals Bahrain—the operator of the KBSP--said that as Bahrain’s only commercial port, with over 90% of consumer goods coming through its operation, Khalifa Bin Salman Port is an invaluable part of Bahrain’s national infrastructure and growth and a significant contributor to Bahrain’s non-oil GDP.“Over the past ten years, KBSP has witnessed stable growth across its various operations including container volumes. This area has grown by 60%, general and bulk cargo by 237%, and over 11,000 vessels including 390 cruise vessel calls that have collectively brought 813,436 visitors to Bahrain,” she said in her welcome address.Commenting on the impact the pandemic has had on the shipping and maritime industry and the disruptions to the global supply chain, she said that `the recovery for our industry will linger much longer than others.”“Despite these headwinds, the highlight for Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) for 2021, has been its ability to adapt to our customers requirements in the increasing demand for break-bulk handling on General Cargo vessels through conversion of containerized volume, besides the introduction of new non cargo related services. This combined with a favourable cargo mix and revenue from non-cargo related activities has resulted in a positive year, despite the global setbacks we all faced,” Bannerman said.The increased throughput numbers last year were on the back of three new Container Services, including one Mainline Service connecting Bahrain to the Far East and a common carrier service connecting Bahrain to the Indian Subcontinent. Movement restrictions on the King Fahd Causeway – linking Bahrain to Saudi Arabia – resulted in the modal shift of cargo from road to sea, which positively impacted the cargo throughput at KBSP, she added.“This has not so much created new trends in supply chain and logistics as it has accelerated existing ones, from increased digitalization to the need for faster shipping services to meet rising e-commerce demand,” Bannerman said.Other session topics, on the first day, included Decarbonising Shipping; GCC Investment Opportunities and Economic Diversification on Global Maritime Trade Flow; Driving Digital Transformation in the Port and Transportation Industries; and Challenges and Opportunities in Multimodal Supply Chain Movements Throughout the Region.The event, features over 20 local, regional and international speakers addressing topical issues and challenges on global transportation and logistics with an audience that includes executives from the region’s leading shippers, cargo owners, importers/exporters, shipping lines, freight forwarders, logistics companies, ports, terminal operating companies, railway operators, port equipment and services suppliers from countries throughout the GCC region.In addition, an exhibition featuring 28 maritime and logistics companies is being held in parallel to the event, showcasing products and capabilities in the maritime sector.