Saudi Arabia signed contracts worth nearly one billion euros with the French groups Alstom and CMA CGM on Monday, covering public transport and maritime shipping, during a visit to Paris by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The visit gave Riyadh the chance to open its arms wide to French companies, according to the Élysée Palace, which announced the deals alongside the crown prince's trip.
Jeddah port terminal deal
The Élysée said CMA CGM, the global shipping and logistics giant, had signed a contract with port operator Red Sea Gateway Terminal to develop the port of Jeddah on the Red Sea, creating a new terminal through a $434 million investment.
CMA CGM said the partnership would increase port capacity and strengthen Saudi Arabia's role as a global hub for trade and logistics. The company noted that maritime traffic in the Gulf has been complicated by the near-paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz since the Middle East war began in late February.
The development will include new deep-water berths designed to accommodate the world's largest container ships, CMA CGM said, adding about 2.6 million TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard measure used across the global shipping industry, to the port's annual handling capacity. That is roughly 2.6 million standard containers.
Riyadh metro trains and assembly plant
In public transport, Alstom and Riyadh's royal commission signed an agreement giving the French train maker a 500 million euro contract to supply additional trainsets for lines 3 and 6 of the Riyadh metro, the Élysée said.
Alstom also reached a separate agreement with Saudi authorities to build a train assembly plant in Saudi Arabia, which will serve the metro system's new line 7 in Riyadh.
Background to the visit
Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's crown prince and de facto ruler, met French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on August 24 as part of his visit to Paris. Alstom is a French manufacturer of trains and rail equipment, while CMA CGM is a Marseille-based group and one of the world's largest container shipping and logistics operators.
