Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — The number of containers handled by Saudi ports in the first quarter of 2023 grew by 17.57 percent to reach more than two million standard containers, the kingdom’s General Authority of Ports (Mawani) said.
The number of exported containers during the first quarter of 2023 witnessed an increase of 16.08 percent to reach 559,829, compared to 513,273 containers in the corresponding quarter of 2022, and incoming containers increased by 22.43 percent to 637,277 containers compared to 520,509 containers in the same period of 2022.
Transshipment containers witnessed an increase of 14.96 percent and 778,056 containers compared to 676,826 containers in the first quarter of 2022, according to a report in SPA, which attributed this growth to “providing the highest levels of logistics services, using modern technologies with international specifications for remote operation, as well as establishing distinguished strategic partnerships with major international shipping lines”.
During the first quarter of 2023, the tonnage handled by the ports reach 75.55 million, an increase of 4.11 percent compared to 72.57 million tons in the same period of 2022. The general cargo reached 1.59 million tons, solid bulk 12.50 tons and liquid bulk 39.82 tons.
Food accounted for 5.78 million tons, an increase of 14.97 percent over the first quarter of 2022, and 1.34 million head of cattle were handled by the ports, an increase of 300.48 percent.
A total of 258,051 cars were imported, an increase of 35.52 percent over the first quarter of the previous year, which recorded 190,422 cars.
Between 2020-2023, about 23 shipping services were added by major international shipping lines, which contributed to the kingdom’s achievement of the highest regional progress in the maritime network connectivity index issued by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), with a score of “71.33” points currently.