Mawani Reports 7.82% Cargo Growth At Saudi Ports For September 2024

The Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) has announced a notable increase in cargo tonnage at its ports for September 2024. The total cargo handled reached 28,097,022 tons, marking a 7.82% rise from the 26,058,554 tons recorded in September 2023. This growth aligns with the Kingdom's aim to strengthen its global logistics presence.

Export containers experienced a significant boost, increasing by 9% to reach 255,606 TEUs compared to 234,663 TEUs in the same month last year. Import containers also saw an impressive rise of 18%, totalling 258,007 TEUs, up from 217,933 TEUs in September 2023.

The overall number of containers processed was 673,124 TEUs, which represents an 8.08% decrease from the previous year's figure of 732,319 TEUs. Transhipment containers experienced a sharp decline of 42.98%, falling to 159,511 TEUs from last year's count of 279,723 TEUs.

General cargo amounted to 975,406 tons during this period. Bulk solid cargo reached a volume of 4,473,019 tons while bulk liquid cargo was recorded at 15,277,608 tons. These figures highlight the diverse nature of goods handled at Saudi ports.

The number of passengers using the ports fell significantly by 39.46%, with only 44,166 passengers recorded this September compared to last year's figure of 72,956 passengers. Livestock arrivals also dropped by a substantial margin of 35.58%, with only 343,952 heads received compared to the previous year's total of 533,948 heads.

Despite some declines in other areas, car shipments rose by a notable margin of 10.51%. A total of 98,087 cars were shipped this year compared to the previous year's count of 88,755 cars.

Shipping Traffic and Strategic Goals

Shipping traffic saw a slight decrease as well; the number of ships docking at ports dropped by 5.18%, with only 988 ships arriving compared to last year's total of 1,042 ships. Despite these declines in certain areas like shipping traffic and passenger numbers, Mawani remains committed to enhancing its logistics capabilities.

Mawani had previously reported a significant increase in cargo tonnage for August this year as well. The August figures showed a remarkable growth rate of over one-quarter at approximately 26.57%. Exported containers for that month grew by an impressive rate of nearly one-fifth or about18.76%.

This performance supports Saudi Arabia's National Transport and Logistics Strategy aimed at establishing the country as a key player in global logistics networks.

With inputs from SPA