Jeddah Islamic Port’s April container volume surges by 25%

Jeddah Islamic Port reported a 25.07 per cent increase in total container volumes during April to 465,348 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) compared to 372,064 TEUs during the same period a year earlier.

The latest data from Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) shows that the kingdom’s busiest port recorded a 21.83 per cent surge in trans-shipments and restows to 261,543 TEUs this year from 214,686 TEUs in April last year.

The port’s cargo column saw an addition of 19.33 per cent to the 2022 volume of 4,409,557 tons to achieve about 5,261,883 tons in the previous month.

Mawani said key figures across major cargo categories include 128,714 tons of general cargo, 305,038 tons of dry bulk cargo and 34,109 tons of liquid bulk cargo. Jeddah’s trade hub played host to 324 vessels throughout April, a 13.3 per cent surge over last year’s count of 286 vessels.

Jeddah Islamic Port’s passenger traffic reached 40,947 in April, a 334.77 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump from 9,418 during the same period in 2022.

The port witnessed increased trade activity on the livestock front. Mawani said 458,280 cattle heads were imported through Jeddah Islamic Port, beating the previous year’s record of 446,539, an increase of 2.63 per cent.

Similarly, the automotive trade rose by 72.08 per cent to 54,511 units from 31,677 units a year earlier.

Jeddah Islamic Port, as a major regional hub serving critical global shipping lanes, not only facilitate global supply chains but propel Saudi Arabia to the forefront of major international indicators such as the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index and Logistics Performance Index.

Jeddah Islamic Port at a glance

Meanwhile, boasting over 5,000 vessel calls annually, Jeddah Islamic Port signed a deal worth SAR1.5bn with global logistics giants to set up five logistics parks with the capacity to generate around 6,000 direct and indirect jobs while playing a major role in raising Saudi Arabia’s non-oil output.

Mawani and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed an agreement to establish an integrated logistics park at a cost of SAR1 in Jeddah in February. The park is set to create over 10,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in the logistics sector while strengthening Jeddah Islamic Port’s position as a maritime hub.

UAE’s DP World and the Mawani signed a 30-year agreement worth $133.4m in June 2022 to set up a port-centric Logistics Park at the Jeddah Islamic Port.

The agreement entails building a 415,000 square-meter logistics park with an in-land container depot capacity of 250,000 TEUs and a warehousing storage space of 100,000 square meters.

Read: Saudi’s Mawani, Jeddah Chamber to jointly build $267m integrated logistics park