SIMIC

FOLK Maritime Services Company, a public investment fund (PIF) company and one of the region's emerging leaders in providing regional liner and feeder services, has launched a new liner service connecting the Red Sea port of Jeddah Islamic Port to India's largest commercial ports of Mundra and Nhava Sheva.

Launched this month, the 10-day new India Redsea Service (IRS) with two vessels, will strengthen trade ties by facilitating the movement of consumer cargo from India, and products from the Kingdom, including petrochemicals.



In addition to deploying its vessel, Folk Maritime has also signed a vessel sharing agreement (VSA) with Oman's Asayd, which will also deploy a vessel for the new route.



Poul Hestbaek, CEO of Folk Maritime, said: "The new route will further enhance bilateral trade between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and India, and underlines our ambition to become one of the leading maritime service providers in the region. It will also contribute to the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 to establish the Kingdom as a global logistics hub by enhancing connectivity and maritime sector growth."



Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest trade partner and India is the Kingdom's second largest trading partner. Total trade with Saudi Arabia accounted for over 4.5 per cent of India's total trade in FY2022-23.



Saleem Kadernani, COO of Folk Maritime, added: "The new service is an exciting development for the business community with new and existing customers having more solutions to better meet their requirements. We are excited that we can now offer a sustainable service for our customers, and the new route is expected to create more value for them in the near- and long-term."



Folk Maritime started its official operations in the Red Sea with two liner services: one that connects the Kingdom's ports of Jeddah Islamic Port, Neom, and Yanbu to the Red Sea ports, Sokhna and Aqaba, and a second route offering service between Port Sudan and Jeddah Islamic Port.



The company plans to continue to enhance its fleet through own and chartered tonnage and better serve its customers by offering increased coverage to more regional trades and a wider access to global markets.