DP World has sold part of its stake in a terminal at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Islamic Port on the Red Sea to Danish logistics company AP Moller-Maersk.
DP World, owned by Dubai, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, said on Wednesday that the two companies agreed to form a “strategic partnership” in the southern container terminal at Jeddah Islamic Port.
Maersk will acquire a 37.5 percent minority stake in the terminal, while DP World will retain a 62.5 percent majority shareholding and continue to head operations at the facility, according to their agreement.
The sale is notable because it comes at a time of acrimonious ties between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Riyadh is at odds with the UAE in the Red Sea, including hot spots like Yemen and Sudan. The two countries are also engaged in a nasty social media war.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Saudi Arabian influencers have condemned Abu Dhabi for its close ties to Israel. Meanwhile, Middle East Eye revealed recently that the UAE pressed pro-Israel US lobbying groups to condemn Saudi Arabia for antisemitism.
The UAE’s ownership of Jeddah Islamic Port’s southern container terminal underscores how interlinked the two countries’ economies are, despite their rift.
DP World has been a key vehicle for the UAE to project power and influence in the Middle East and Africa.
The UAE is the top source of foreign direct investment in the kingdom and one of Saudi Arabia’s main export markets.
DP World: From Somaliland to Epstein
DP World owns the Port of Berbera in Somaliland, the breakaway region of Somalia, which Israel recognised as an independent state in late 2025. Saudi Arabia and other Arab states condemned the move. The UAE, which has emerged as Israel’s closest Arab partner, did not condemn the move.
The last time there was a major rift in the Gulf, the UAE and Saudi Arabia were aligned and led a total blockade of Qatar. The spat officially ended in 2021 with the signing of the Al-Ula accords.
DP World has more recently been under scrutiny over former chairman and chief executive Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem’s ties to the late convicted paedophile and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
DP World replaced Sulayem in February with Essa Kazim as chairman and Yuvraj Narayan as chief executive.
Emails released by the US Department of Justice revealed Sulayem maintained a decades-long professional and personal relationship with Epstein. US lawmakers who were allowed access to unredacted Epstein files said that a disturbing memo in which Epstein states, “I loved the torture video”, was sent to Sulayem.
The Red Sea is a central hub for competition between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The Gulf states are backing opposing sides in Sudan’s civil war, and Saudi Arabia backs Eritrea in its dispute with Ethiopia, which is close to the UAE.
However, the region faces an overcapacity problem when it comes to ports, meaning there is not enough demand to keep all the ports in the Gulf states and Egypt, which have built in the Red Sea, busy.
Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Islamic Port also saw a slight drop in traffic during Israel’s war on Gaza, which the two port executives previously attributed to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, MEE reported previously.