Material procurement is mainly considered the critical path of industrial projects. However, the logistics phase that moves the purchased material from the vendor’s gate to the site usually receives less attention than the purchasing process. Project procedures define how cargo must be packed, documented and expedited, but give no method for deciding which purchase orders (POs) deserve the most logistics attention, forcing teams to rely on previous experience. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz in early 2026 cut the main maritime artery of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province projects and showed the cost of this gap. This paper introduces a heuristic Logistics Criticality Score (LCS) that ranks every PO using seven factors identified from the supply-chain disruption literature and available data in industrial projects material register. The factors identified are namely; monetary value, inspection level, engineered/bulk, oversize cargo, heavy cargo, lead time, and routing or geopolitical risk. The factor weights were derived from a survey of 78 practitioners, who ranked routing and geopolitical risk first and monetary value last. In addition, 83% of them have experienced logistics-driven late, damaged or out-of-sequence deliveries, and only 30% assess logistics risk early. The method was implemented on a Saudi Aramco gas megaproject – Fadhili Increment Sulfur Recovery Unit. The project is $ 1.2 Billion worth and consists of 111 Pos. The most critical fifth of the POs carries nearly twice its proportional share of total logistics criticality, and the 51% of POs shipped through maritime chokepoints carry 60% of it. The resulting watchlist helps the team focus on most critical POs, and objectively facilitates decisions such as route changes, freight mode change.

Keywords

Logistics Prioritization, Material Procurement, Supply Chain Disruption, Maritime Chokepoints, and Industrial Projects.