Fahad A. Al-Rasheed, group CEO and managing director of King Abdullah Economic City, with Saud Alsulaiman, CEO of IKEA Saudi Arabia, Frank Courtney, CEO of Flow, and other executives at the groundbreakinging ceremony of Flow’s Omni-Channel & E-commerce Fulfillment Centre at KAEC in Rabigh on Monday.

The rapid progress King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is making can be gauged from the list of its investors that is expanding by the day.

In fact, new strategic partnerships that are being added from time to time have been raising KAEC’s success graph. “Each new partnership goes to prove that the economic city continues to be outstandingly successful in attracting top international companies,” says Fahd Al-Rasheed, managing director and group CEO of King Abdullah Economic City.

“KAEC is moving forward very rapidly. King Abdullah Port is operational. We have more than 100 companies that are commencing operations in the Industrial Valley. We have built educational and health care facilities and a wide range of residential housing units for all income levels. KAEC was the Kingdom’s biggest residential sales company in 2014, which shows the extraordinary level of demand,” Al-Rasheed said during the groundbreaking ceremony for Flow’s Omni-Channel & E-Commerce Fulfillment Centre at the King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh on Monday.

“We have more than 85 projects coming online over the next 18 months, including new residential, commercial, transportation, recreation and tourism facilities along with all the services needed to support them. The opening of the Haramain high-speed railway will make the city more accessible and attractive to residents and tourists from the region and I am very confident about our growth prospects,” Al-Rasheed added.

Other key attractions of KAEC include top rate logistical services, quality residential accommodation suitable for income levels and the unrivalled transportation facilities, which include the high-speed Haramain Railway and King Abdullah Port, Al-Rasheed reiterated.

Flow, a progressive logistics company that is part of the Ghassan Ahmed Alsulaiman Group, is the latest to join the expanding list of KAEC investors. Flow is to start its new Omni-Channel and E-Commerce Fulfillment Centre in KAEC, a bespoke facility for IKEA Saudi Arabia.

Flow will be introducing a number of solutions to meet IKEA’s requirements, including an Oxy-reduct (oxygen reduction solution) that will prevent fires while eliminating the risk of water damage to the products and the internal material handling systems.

The new facility, which has been tailor-designed to service IKEA’s e-commerce and pay-and-go requirements, will be launched in two phases, to meet the growing needs of the customers. The first phase will be operational in February 2017, where a total of 1,800 orders per day may be picked, packed and dispatched. The second phase will handle up to 5,000 orders a day in two shifts with the possibility to increase capacity further with 24 hour operation.

“Flow’s decision to make KAEC the base of its expansion plans in the region is commendable and deserves our congratulations. We are very pleased as Flow found KAEC the ideal starting point for its business in the Kingdom. After all, KAEC, which ranks among the top economic cities in the world, offers a technologically advanced infrastructure and public services,” Al-Rasheed said.

Asked how Flow’s Omni-Channel and E-Commerce Fulfillment Centre project will add to KAEC’s growth, Al-Rasheed said: “This center takes advantage of KAEC’s advanced infrastructure and its world-class logistics infrastructure. For a company like IKEA, which needs to handle large volumes of freight quickly and efficiently, KAEC’s strategic location on the Red Sea and its proximity to one of the largest, most technologically sophisticated ports in the world are obvious attractions.”

“From KAEC’s perspective, this agreement demonstrates that our ability to offer a total package, from business-friendly regulatory processes to essential infrastructure to commercial support to residential solutions for employees, is compelling to some of the world’s largest companies,” Al-Rasheed said.

“Any city must have at its heart a solid value proposition. This agreement is further evidence that our value proposition makes KAEC an increasingly important destination for global companies seeking to build and expand their presence not only in Saudi Arabia but in the wider Red Sea economic area,” Al-Rasheed added.

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