Rolls-Royce and MAKEEN Sign Deal to Build mtu Marine Engines in Saudi Arabia
MAKEEN will manufacture and assemble mtu Series 2000 marine engines locally, the first licensed production of high-speed engines in the Kingdom.
Tariq Benali Tariq Benali covers business and corporate news across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted, tracking the deals, leadership moves and regulatory shifts behind the region's companies. tariq@anecdoted.com
A licensing agreement between Rolls-Royce Power Systems and MAKEEN will put production of mtu Series 2000 marine engines inside Saudi Arabia. MAKEEN, formally the Saudi Engines Manufacturing Company, receives the right to manufacture and assemble those engines in the Kingdom.
It is the first licensed production of high-speed engines in the country. That distinction matters in a category where regional operators have largely bought completed units from suppliers abroad.
Built on a 2023 framework
The licensing agreement extends a framework deal the two companies signed in November 2023. Under the new arrangement, the partners will work on assembling the capabilities needed for customer projects expected to follow.
Marine applications come first
The first use cases are maritime. Engines covered by the agreement are aimed at ferries, coastguard vessels and patrol boats. Rail applications are the next target, and the companies have not set a timeline for reaching them.
MAKEEN was created through a collaboration between Saudi Aramco, HD Hyundai and Dussur. Its scope covers manufacturing, servicing and lifecycle support for marine and land-based engines and equipment, which in practice includes spare parts, maintenance and long-term technical backing for the units it builds.
Rolls-Royce has been operating in the Kingdom since the 1960s. Its technologies are currently in use across air, land and marine applications in the country.
Where it fits in industrial policy
Local engine production lines up with a wider push under Vision 2030 to build domestic machinery and equipment manufacturing. The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program treats machinery and equipment as a priority industry, with stated goals of localising value chains, establishing national companies in emerging technologies and lifting exports.
The National Industrial Strategy projects the Kingdom's machinery and equipment market growing from roughly $27 billion in 2025 to about $31 billion by 2030. Oil and gas, utilities, construction, automotive and large development projects are among the sectors generating that demand.
Bringing assembly of high-speed engines onshore moves part of that spending — machining, assembly, testing and later servicing — to a local supplier instead of an overseas line. For MAKEEN, the licence supplies a defined product to build while its supply chain and workforce are developed. For Rolls-Royce Power Systems, it creates a local manufacturing foothold without owning the plant.
Reaching the rail segment will require the same production line to qualify for a different class of customer and a different duty cycle. That is why the companies describe the immediate task as building capability rather than chasing volume.
