MAWANI kicks off 2023 nearing 700,000 TEU mark

The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) has reported a significant increase in the flow of containers in January 2023.

Trade hubs overseen by MAWANI saw a 24.05 per cent increase in the flow of containers, which reached 694,803 TEU compared to 560,084 TEU in the previous year.

According to the authority, this increase in trade was mainly driven by a 26.08 per cent rise in the number of imported containers from 220,119 TEU to 174,582 TEU, and a 17.8 per cent spike in the number of exported containers from 175,021 TEU to 206,177 TEU.

MAWANI’s ports also handled 268,507 TEU of transshipments, which increased by 27.57 per cent from 210,481 TEU in the year before.

In terms of consolidated cargo figures, volumes grew by 9.55 per cent to reach 26,360,132 tons in January from the previous year’s total of 24,061,871 tons.

Dry bulk freight touched 4,035,580 tons, an uptick of 3.95 per cent compared to 3,882,371 tons in 2022, while liquid bulk volumes increased by 5.55 per cent from 13,695,645 tons to 14,455,664 tons.

However, general cargo decreased by 4.87 per cent to reach 467,665 tons.

Saudi Arabia’s maritime sector experienced a 13 per cent increase in cargo throughput in 2022, handling roughly 237 million tonnes compared to 210 million tonnes in 2021. 

According to year-end figures for 2022, container volumes increased by 3.2 per cent to 10.355 million TEU from 10.035 million TEU the previous year.