RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s ports witnessed an 8.3 percent increase in cargo throughput volumes in November 2022 compared to the same period a year before, according to the latest release by the Saudi Ports Authority, also known as Mawani. Containerized cargo across the Kingdom’s ports maintained their upward swing, growing to 631,165 TEUs. The data revealed a 10.57 percent jump in exported boxes at 183,023 TEUs, compared to 165,520 TEUs in 2021. Imported containers stood at 189,029 TEUs, a 12.66 percent surge relative to last year’s 167,786 TEUs. Transshipments also edged up by 3.86 percent to 259,108 TEUs against the previous year’s tally of 249,477 TEUs. However, non-containerized cargo saw a 5.32 percent drop to 25,629,112 tons this year from 27,070,024 tons in November 2021. According to Mawani, general cargo throughput witnessed a massive jump of 97.06 percent from 513,959 tons during the preceding period to 1,012,830 tons in the current year. Dry bulk cargo increased by 6.79 percent to 4,487,183 tons in comparison to 4,202,866 tons previously while liquid bulk cargo plummeted 14.46 percent to 13,708,604 tons from 16,025,826 tons in 2021. Furthermore, Saudi ports received 1,258 vessels in November, 11.92 percent higher than last year’s total of 1,124. With a 44.85 percent leap, vehicle throughput for the same period equaled 83,352 units versus 57,543 units last year. Food volumes touched 1,864,400 tons, up 18.66 percent year-on-year from 1,571,179 tons whereas livestock imports hit the 291,169 mark, a 29.52 percent spike as opposed to last year. Meanwhile, passenger traffic rose 24.35 percent to 73,627 as compared to 59,210 passengers during the same period in 2021.