Affirming Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to become a global logistics hub, the ship traffic in the Kingdom’s ports rose by 8.06 percent to 14,266 vessels in 2022 compared to the year before, according to official data released by the General Authority for Statistics.
GASTAT noted that Jeddah Islamic Port had the largest share in ship traffic with 3,907 vessels, followed by the King Fahd Industrial Port in Yanbu with 2,228 carriers and King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam with 2,167 freighters.
The total volume of goods unloaded at Saudi Arabia’s ports amounted to more than 359 million tons in 2022, representing liquid bulk as the highest type of goods to 49.36 percent, followed by containers with 31.94 percent.
King Fahad Industrial Port in Yanbu had the highest volume capacity at 210 million tons of the total Saudi ports.
According to the report, the aggregate number of stations amounted to 31 in Saudi ports.
Additionally, King Fahad Industrial Port recorded the highest number in terms of exports reaching 99.04 million tons in 2022.
Jeddah Islamic Port recorded the highest figure for imports last year, reaching 33.19 million tons.
The total number of passengers traveling through ports in Saudi Arabia increased by 56.09 percent to more than 1 million passengers, up from 652,000 in 2021.
Jazan Port had the highest number of arriving and departing passengers reaching 516,793 in 2022.
The figures came as the Kingdom’s transport authority announced a project to localize and develop offices for land freight brokers in a further boost to the logistics sector.
The Transport General Authority, which oversees land, railway and maritime transport in Saudi Arabia, launched the second phase of localizing freight activities on Monday.
The initiative aims to enhance national capabilities and provide individuals with opportunities in a range of transportation-related services and activities, in accordance with the Vision 2030 initiative to diversify the Kingdom’s economy.
It was launched in collaboration with the Saudi Logistics Academy as well as a number of other relevant authorities in both the government and private sectors.
According to a report from London-based maritime journal Lloyd’s List on July 25, Saudi Arabia jumped eight spots to be at the 16th position in the international ranking for container handling quantities.
Lloyd’s List noted in its report for the world’s 100 largest ports that Saudi Arabia’s elevation in worldwide raking was due to handling over 10.43 million containers at its ports in 2022, according to the Saudi Press Agency.