Saudi ports ride exports boom: The total volume of imports and exports handled across Saudi Arabian ports exceeded 331 mn tons in FY 2024 — with a 9.3% y-o-y uptick in outbound cargo to 222.4 mn tons and a 3.6% rise in inbound cargo to 108.9 mn tons, according to the General Authority for Statistics’ Maritime Transports Statistics 2024 report (pdf). The surge in outbound and exports volume reflects a robust, export-oriented maritime sector across the Kingdom.

Two ports remained on top: King Fahad Industrial port in Yanbu — Saudi exports’ top destination — accounted for 51% of total exports with 114 mn tons, while Dammam’s King Abdulaziz Port — the leading port for inbound cargo — registered nearly 35% of all imports with a total of 38 mn tons.

In cargo terms: The total volume of handled cargo across Saudi ports exceeded 334.5 mn tons, with nearly 110.5 mn tons unloaded and 224.1 mn loaded. Yanbu’s King Fahad Industrial Port came in first place, handling 39.8%, followed by Jubail’s King Fahad Industrial Port (19%), King Abdulaziz Port (15.5%), and Jeddah Islamic Port (14.1%).

Zooming in on cargo types: Liquid bulk cargo led the pack with 177.4 mn tons, followed by containers with 84.5 mn tons. The ports also handled 56k tons of solid bulk cargo, 10.8 mn tons of general cargo, and 5.8 mn RoRo units.

The Kingdom’s ports handled more than 2.5 mn containers in FY 2024, including 1.3 mn outbound containers and over 1.2 mn inbound containers. Transhipment cargo surpassed 21 mn tons, with 10.4 mn tons unloaded and about 11 mn tons loaded — amounting to nearly 2 mn standard containers in total. King Abdulaziz Port registered 51.1%, ranking first in standard container handling.

In terms of ship traffic, ports across the Kingdom logged a total of 8.7k ships — with Jeddah Islamic Port ranking first at 3.8k ships, followed by King Abdulaziz Port (2k), Neom Port (951), and Yanbu’s King Fahad Industrial Port (554).

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