RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was ranked 16 in annual container throughput by the 2023 edition of the Lloyd’s List One Hundred Ports, steadily improving on the 24th position it occupied last year.
The Minister of Transport and Logistics Services and Chairman of the Saudi Posts Authority (Mawani), Saleh Al-Jasser, said that the Kingdom’s remarkable leap is a direct result of the continuous support and empowerment from the Crown Prince.
He said that the pursuit of fulfilling the ambitions of Vision 2030 that aim to transform the nation into a logistics leader on the global front and an engine for socioeconomic growth through capacity upgrades of up to 40 million TEUs has helped the Kingdom.
As per the industry report, container volumes across the Kingdom’s ports during 2022 were estimated at 10,439,620 TEUs.
The Kingdom’s groundbreaking strides in the global logistics landscape boils down to a host of critical catalysts, ranging from the addition of nine cargo services to the signing of agreements worth over 4 billion riyals with major partners to build six state-of-the-art logistics parks over the course of 2022.
It also encompasses awarding concessions valued at 17 billion riyals to operate and optimize container terminals, which include a 70 percent expansion in Jeddah Islamic Port’s capacity to 13 million TEUs in addition to a 120 percent increase in King Abdulaziz Port’s capacity to 7.5 million TEUs.
The latest success maintains Saudi Arabia’s successful track record this year across key global indices, including the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI), where it registered a 17-place jump to the 38th spot among 160 countries.
In the UNCTAD’s Liner Shipping Connectivity Index (LSCI) for Q2 2023, it came 16th among 187 countries with a score of 76.16 points thanks to 97 maritime links to 348 destinations around the world.