The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has announced a 7.76% rise in container traffic at its trade hubs during February 2023, handling 622,837 TEUs compared to 577,993 TEUs in the previous year. A breakdown of the monthly container data reveals a 12.75% increase in exported containers, from 172,208 TEUs in February 2022 to 194,157 TEUs this year, and imported containers up 5.95% year-on-year, to 193,937 TEUs in February 2023 from 183,051 TEUs in the same month last year. Transshipments grew at a yearly pace of 5.39%, from 222,734 TEUs to 234,743 TEUs. On the other hand, cargo volumes slumped 3.13% to 23,089,455 tonnes from 23,835,826 tonnes in the prior period. Under this category, dry bulk cargo soared 2.9% to 3,879,366 tonnes, while last year's it stood at 3,770,196 tonnes, and general cargo jumped 77.2% to 639,843 tonnes from 361,086 tonnes in the year before. Liquid bulk, however, returned negative figures, with volumes sliding 13.16% from 13,556,831 tonnes in February 2022 to 11,772,089 tonnes last month. Furthermore, the ports' food throughput totalled 1,646,900 tonnes, having taken a 18% tumble from last year's 1,683,595 tonnes. Livestock volumes, on the other hand, grew 218.37%, with 337,231 cattle heads imported in February this year against 105,923 in February last year. Likewise, around 81,600 automobiles entered the Kingdom through Mawani's ports, registering a 33.99% increase over last year's 60,898 units. February saw as many as 883 vessels dock across Saudi ports, which represents a 4.87% uptick from 842 vessels during the same period last year. Passenger numbers followed a similar trend, with a 61.16% spike in arrivals at 100,903 pax in comparison to 62,611 pax in 2022. Mawani is the national maritime regulator which aims to continually upgrade the throughput capacity of Saudi ports through bi-ticket investments and high-impact partnerships in a bid to transform the Kingdom into a global logistics hub of choice.
