A Multi-Vendor 5G Private Network Framework for Autonomous Port Operations: Realizing Saudi Vision 2030 Smart Logistics Corridors

Abstract

— The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's ambition under Vision 2030 to rank among the world's top-ten logistics economies places its maritime gateways — principally Jeddah Islamic Port on the Red Sea and the adjacent King Abdullah Port — at the centre of a transformation toward autonomous, data-driven cargo handling. Legacy connectivity built on industrial Wi-Fi and best-effort 4G cannot guarantee the deterministic latency, mobility robustness, and device density that automated guided vehicles (AGVs), remotely operated ship-to-shore cranes, and real-time container tracking demand. This paper proposes the Hybrid Multi-Vendor Private 5G Blueprint (HMP-5G), an engineering and orchestration framework purpose-built for the topology, electromagnetic conditions, and procurement realities of Saudi industrial ports. The framework is organised across three coupled layers — a Radio Access layer mapped to port micro-zones, a Slicing layer that isolates safety-critical, automation, and enterprise traffic, and an Interoperability layer that allows heterogeneous Tier-1 vendor equipment (Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia) to coexist through standardised O-RAN O1/E2 and 3GPP service-based interfaces. The framework commits explicitly to a Standalone Non-Public Network (SNPN) model with on-site User Plane Function for data sovereignty, specifies hard slice isolation through dedicated physical resource block (PRB) allocation enforced by a Near-RT RIC xApp, and supports the isolation claim with a reserved-resource queueing model demonstrating that the URLLC control latency target is preserved under a one-million-device-per-square-kilometre telemetry surge. Performance targets are expressed against 3GPP TS 22.104 baselines rather than proprietary data, and every design choice is mapped to the National Transport and Logistics Strategy, the giga-project logistics layer, and the Saudi Green Initiative.