The Kingdom's ports have ended December in the gains territory with a string of spectacular results across various indicators, chief among them the 13.63% year-on-year spike in container throughput from 841,055 TEUs to 955,731 TEUs. The operational footprint of the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) during 2022 was driven by the tenets of sustainable development, customer centricity, competitive superiority, and digital transformation in accordance with the objectives of the National Transport and Logistics Strategy to evolve the Kingdom into a global logistics hub at the crossroads of three continents. Statistics show a growth across container categories with a 7.15% growth in exported containers to 214,789 TEUs in comparison to 200,460 TEUs in 2021. Similarly, imported containers were up 24.41% to 246,023 TEUs from 197,709 TEUs a year earlier. Transshipments, too, maintained the upward trend by soaring at 11.76% to 494,919 TEUs as opposed to the previous year's tally of 442,850 TEUs. On the other hand, cargo volumes inched up by 14.06% from the 2021 levels of 25,962,471 tons to total 29,612,588 tons in December. Furthermore, numbers under this classification remained in the green with general cargo increasing by 35.27% from 612,303 tons to 828,247 tons. Likewise, dry bulk cargo jumped 12.99% to 4,427,370 tons versus 3,958,212 tons in the prior period while liquid bulk cargo was 14.28% higher at 16,197,188 tons when measured against 2021's count of 14,173,355 tons. December also saw the Kingdom's ports collectively process 1,723,177 tons of food commodities and 310,160 cattle heads across its state-of-the-art facilities. Car imports in the concluding month of 2022 shot up by 22.74% to hit 80,146 units relative to 2021's volume of 65,297 vehicles. In addition, the inflow of vessels accelerated by 18.83% to 1,407 compared to 1,184 in the preceding year. Meanwhile, passenger movement into the country's trade hubs continued to ascend with a 35.37% leap from 75,575 pax to 102,305 pax last month. The national maritime regulator is lining up efforts to boost the global connectivity and expand the throughput capacity of the vital sector as it aims to strengthen the Kingdom's ranking in international indices and consolidate its leading position on the world's logistics map.
