JEDDAH: The number of containers handled at the Jeddah Islamic Port (JIP) during the month of July exceeded 419,200, a Saudi Press Agency report said, quoting port Director General Sahir bin Musa Tahlawi.
The number of incoming and outgoing ships increased by 5.15 percent during July compared to the same period last year, whereas the number of passengers increased by 4.57 percent, he said.
Tahlawi also said the volume of building materials handled at JIP grew by nearly 27 percent to 1.1 million tons during the period, cars grew to 57,000 and livestock to 411,000 heads.
The volume of imports and exports surpassed 3.6 million tons in the period between January and July of the current year and the number of containers increased by 21.21percent to 2.7 million, 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
Abdul Aziz Al-Tuwaijri, chairman of Saudi Ports Authority (SPA), said last April that the capacity of Saudi ports rose from 373 million tons in 2010 to 413 million tons in 2011.
The number of ships that visited Saudi ports also increased from 10,985 in 2010 to 11,296 ships in 2011, while the volume of goods handled by the ports jumped from 154 million tons to 165 million tons during the same period.
Al-Tuwaijri said the number of containers received by the Saudi ports rose from 5.3 million in 2010 to 5.7 million in 2011. This reflected positively on their revenue as it rose from SR2.97 billion to SR3.3 billion during the same period.
