PWC Logistics, a Kuwaiti-based logistics company, has merged its freight-forwarding division with Globe Marine Services (GMS) of Saudi Arabia.

GMS is a provider of marine services and transportation.

PWC Logistics has a network of 450 offices in one hundred countries. With this merger, logistics customers in Saudi Arabia will be able to access GMS's experience in freight forwarding within the Saudi market as well as PWC Logistics' expertise in supply chain management and its freight forwarding network.

The Arabian peninsular has seen rapid growth in logistics infrastructure, reports London-based industry research and analysis firm, Transport Intelligence. This region has exploited its potential as a hub location for traffic between Europe and China.

While PWS has expanded in other areas of the world, (its recent purchase of Natural, a Swiss-based freight forwarder, for exmpale) the company is particularly focused on the opportunities in the Middle-East.

The Middle Eastern express, logistics and transportation markets are attracting an increasingly high level of interest and investment as global companies shift their strategic focus to the region, said Middle East Logistics 2006, a recent report by Transport Intelligence. These markets are some of the most dynamic emerging markets in the world

But the region is not without obstacles. Major challenges to growth still exist in the region—it is unstable with political tensions a highly vulnerable oil supply chain provide severe risks to the region’s ambitious transport and logistics development plans.