Manpower supply in Dammam and Al Khobar means a licensed provider places workers who are already in the Kingdom at your plant, warehouse or project under an Ajeer permit, while it keeps them on its own sponsorship, payroll and insurance. This guide explains how Ajeer works for Eastern Province buyers, where the demand sits across the three Dammam industrial cities and King Abdulaziz Port, how to handle licensed roles such as forklift operators, how to plan housing, meals and transport, and what to check before you sign.
Manpower supply is a service contract: the provider supplies a crew of named workers, you direct their work at your site, and the provider remains their employer for the whole term.
In Dammam, Al Khobar and Dhahran the service is used by factories and chemical plants in the industrial cities, logistics and port operators, contractors on residential, commercial and infrastructure projects, hospitals, malls and offices, and companies that need extra hands for a shutdown, a peak or a short project.
A complete provider covers more than the workers themselves.
Ajeer is the government platform, now run within Qiwa, that lets one establishment make its workers available to another without transferring their sponsorship.
The platform offers two main routes, and an Eastern Province buyer should know which one the provider will use.
Route | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
Ajeer leasing | The provider lends the full services of named workers to your establishment for a set period that ends with the contract. | Small teams, short jobs, shutdown peaks and temporary gaps. |
Ajeer contracting | An outsourcing provider performs a defined service at your site with its own employees, under a service contract and Ajeer permits. | Longer contracts such as cleaning, operation and maintenance, and warehouse support. |
Under the rules for outsourcing services with non-Saudi workers, set by Ministerial Decision 60339 of 28 October 2025 and applied since 25 January 2026, a few points matter most to the buyer.
Ajeer fees vary with the permit duration you request, and for leasing the invoice is paid through SADAD after the beneficiary approves the request.
Compare Ajeer manpower with direct hiring
Dammam has three industrial cities run by MODON, and together they account for most of the area's factory labour demand.
Industrial city | Location | Size |
|---|---|---|
First Industrial City | South-east of Dammam, near the Arabian Gulf | About 2.4 million square metres and 178 factories |
Second Industrial City | West of Dhahran, on the Dhahran to Abqaiq road | About 25 million square metres and 1,071 factories |
Third Industrial City | South of Dhahran, on the coastal road towards the Salwa border crossing | About 48 million square metres, 10 million of them developed, and about 225 factories |
Plants in the Second Industrial City, the largest of the three, ask mostly for general labourers, loaders, packers, forklift and machine operators, cleaners and helpers on rotating shifts, often in small numbers to start with.
King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam is the Kingdom's main gateway on the Arabian Gulf, and a SAR 1.5 billion expansion of its second container terminal, inaugurated in November 2025, raised that terminal's capacity from 2.5 million to 3.8 million containers a year.
The port and the logistics parks around it create steady demand for warehouse helpers, drivers, forklift operators, tally clerks and maintenance technicians.
Al Khobar and Dhahran add demand from offices, hospitals, malls, hotels and waterfront and residential projects, which ask for cleaners, housekeeping staff, kitchen helpers, maintenance technicians and fit-out trades.
For roles that need a certificate, such as forklift or crane operators, ask the provider to name each worker and send a copy of the operator certificate with the proposal.
Write the exact profession for every role, because the worker must hold that profession on the work permit.
The requests BICC received from the Eastern Province in October and November 2026 show four recurring questions.
The first is size: many buyers start small, with two or three general workers or operators, and want to know that the provider can scale the same contract up later.
The second is the rate basis: buyers ask for monthly and annual rates side by side, with and without transport to the site.
The third is certified roles: plants and warehouses ask for licensed forklift operators and other certified trades, so the provider must show each worker's certificate as well as the right profession on the permit.
The fourth is housing: larger crews and staff teams ask for full-board accommodation with three meals, sometimes with a named cuisine, and a choice of room sizes from single to four-person rooms.
A good provider answers all four in the first proposal, with a rate for each option and a clear line on what the rate includes.
Dammam and Al Khobar have a long, hot and humid summer, and heat shapes shift planning for every outdoor crew and every warehouse without cooling.
In 2026 the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development banned outdoor work in direct sun in the private sector from 12 noon to 3 pm between 15 June and 15 September.
The ministry reported 29,945 inspection visits and 1,771 recorded violations during the 2026 period, so enforcement is real.
Plan an early start and a split shift for outdoor trades in summer, and agree in the contract how lost hours and overtime are handled.
Rest areas with shade, cool drinking water and air-conditioned buses between the housing and the site protect the crew and keep productivity up.
Every establishment with 20 or more workers is expected to regularise its labour housing, either by holding a collective housing licence through Balady or by using a licensed housing provider.
Non-compliance can lead to recorded violations and the suspension of some government services for the establishment.
For a seconded crew, the cleanest answer is a rate that includes the bed, the meals and the bus, so that housing compliance sits with the provider and not with you.
Item | Client provides | Provider provides |
|---|---|---|
Housing | Lower rate, but the client must hold licensed collective housing with capacity for the crew. | Higher rate that includes a licensed bed, cleaning and a resident supervisor. |
Meals | The client's kitchen or caterer feeds the crew. | Three meals a day priced per person per day inside the rate. |
Transport | Client buses collect from the housing it chose. | Provider buses run on a route and timetable agreed with the site. |
In the Eastern Province the route matters, because a crew housed in central Dammam and working in the Second or Third Industrial City, at the port or in Dhahran can lose hours on the road every day.
Worker accommodation in Dammam
Read the group housing licence guide
Rates vary widely, so compare offers factor by factor rather than on the headline number.
Cost factor | Why it moves the rate |
|---|---|
Trade and certification | Certified operators and technicians cost more than general labourers. |
Contract length | Short jobs carry permit and mobilisation costs over fewer months, so annual rates are usually lower per month. |
Headcount | A team of two or three carries the same set-up work as a larger crew. |
Housing, meals and transport | A rate with all three is far higher than a bare manpower rate. |
Distance from housing to site | Longer bus routes to the industrial cities or the port add fuel, driver hours and lost working time. |
Working hours, shifts and overtime | Night shifts, split summer shifts and long hours raise the monthly cost. |
Supervision | A dedicated foreman or supervisor adds to the rate but cuts lost hours. |
BICC (Basr International Contracting Co.) seconds general labour, skilled trades, operators, technicians, cleaners and supervisors under its Platinum Nitaqat sponsorship through the Ajeer platform.
BICC has furnished staff housing in Al Khobar and its own camp in Jubail, and in Dammam it sources, licenses and operates housing for the contract term, so a crew can come with a licensed bed, meals from our ISO 22000 kitchens, laundry, cleaning and transport to site in one contract.
Send the roles, headcount, site and start date, and you will have a plan and quotation within 48 hours.
Staff accommodation in Al Khobar
Workers who are already on the provider's sponsorship can start as soon as the Ajeer permit is issued, so the timing depends mainly on the roles, the certificates needed and the headcount.
Yes. A provider can start with a small team and add workers under the same service contract, but the monthly rate for a very small team is usually higher because the set-up work is the same.
Yes, if the provider has certified operators on its sponsorship with the right profession on their work permits, so ask for each operator's name and certificate before you sign.
No. Under Ajeer the provider remains the employer and sponsor, and your establishment uses the workers for the term of the service contract.
Only if the contract says so. Ask for one rate with housing, meals and transport and one without, and check that any housing used is licensed.
BICC sends a plan and quotation within 48 hours of receiving the roles, headcount, site and start date.
Sources: Ajeer (Qiwa), Ajeer leasing service page, MALHR, 2026, on Ajeer contracts and Decision 60339, Saudipedia, list of industrial cities in Dammam, Enterprise, November 2025, on the King Abdulaziz Port terminal expansion, Arab News, September 2026, on the end of the 2026 midday work ban, People Matters, March 2026, on the 20-worker housing compliance drive
Tell us the roles, headcount, site and start date, and we will send a plan and quotation within 48 hours.
