Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s maritime trade hubs have seen a yearly increase of 13 percent in cargo throughput during 2022, handling an estimated 237 million tons compared to 210 million tons in the preceding year.
Over the last year, the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has taken steps to become operationally-efficient and robustly-regulated industry drawing on “streamlined processes, high-impact partnerships, world-class infrastructure, global connectivity and digital transformation”.
The year-end statistics for 2022 highlight a 3.2 percent surge in container volumes at 10.355 billion TEUs compared to 10.035 billion TEUs a year earlier. The growth in imported and exported boxes rose 5 percent to 4.839 billion TEUs from 4.628 billion TEUs in the previous period. Transshipments inched up by 2 percent to hit 5.516 billion tons in comparison to 2021’s tally of 5.406 billion TEUs.
On the commodities front, Saudi ports unloaded around 3.93 billion cattle heads across 2022, up 9 percent year-on-year over the prior year’s total of 3.62 billion. Likewise, 973,000 cars rolled off incoming vessels at a 25 percent growth rate versus 778,000 units previously.
The Kingdom’s trade gateways also welcomed 933,000 passengers over the course of 2022, a 36 percent spike from 2021 when 688,000 pax landed on the country’s shores.
Meanwhile, King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam and its container terminal operator Saudi Global Ports (SGP) have ended the year 2022 with the highest annual container figures on record, handling 2,038,787 TEUs at a 15 percent growth rate compared to 1,780,348 TEUs in 2021..
The Dammam-based port is the nation’s foremost trade hub on the Arabian Gulf coast as well as the leading port of entry into the Eastern and Central Regions.
Spread over an area of 19 square kilometers, the port features 43 fully-equipped berths, purpose-built terminals, and state-of-the-art equipment capable of receiving giant vessels and processing 105 million tons of cargo and containers while also housing a modern shipyard that includes two floating docks which can service ships up to 215 meters long.