When compared to its 2018 ranking of 55, when Saudi Arabia ranked 38, the country's stock as a global logistics hub has risen as a result of its preparation of plans for as many as 60 logistics hubs across the Kingdom, as well as its consideration of wholesale upgrades of existing ports and a number of greenfield facilities.
Having an overall LPI score of 3.4, India, Lithuania, Portugal, and Turkey all tied for 38th place with Saudi Arabia. Singapore topped the list with a 4.2, followed by Finland and Denmark at 4.2 and 4.1 respectively.
In a statement broadcast by the Saudi English-language daily Arab News on Sunday, Minister of Transport and Logistics Saleh Al-Jasser attributed the country's recent success to the backing of the Crown Prince and the lofty aims of the National Strategy for Transport and Logistics Services.
Both Afghanistan and Libya scored an LPI of 1.9, tying them for 138th place.
The Logistics Performance Index (LPI)ranks countries based on their performance across a wide range of metrics, including customs clearance, infrastructure quality, international shipping, logistics expertise, delivery times, and tracking and tracing. Good results in all six categories of the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) contribute to a company's overall success in logistics, the survey found.
The Logistics Performance Index (LPI) takes into account a wide range of data points to arrive at an overall score. These data points include customs processing, infrastructure, international shipping, logistics expertise and equality, and tracking and tracing. According to the report, "Strong overall logistics performance is driven by good performance across all six LPI components."
The dependability of the supply chain is essential. With a standard deviation of 10.5 days, the average duration for a container to travel from the port of export to the port of destination is 44 days. It stated that "about sixty percent of the time it takes to trade commodities globally is spent at sea."
However, the most significant holdups occur at either the point of origin or destination, such as ports, airports, or multimodal facilities. Reliability can be increased through policies that specifically target these infrastructures, such as those that boost port productivity by upgrading customs and using new technology.
The World Bank recommended that countries in the lowest quartile focus on enhancing their customs and infrastructure, despite the fact that Saudi Arabia was barely outside the top quartile of achievers. In the worst-performing nations, "the performance of customs and border agencies, as well as the quality of trade- and transport-related infrastructure, is particularly weak," it said.
Compared to developed nations, developing nations, and many middle-income countries, "these countries," including several in the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, experience far lengthier waits. The average time it takes to ship an export is similar to the time it takes to ship an import, but the causes are different.