Riyadh, May 03, 2021, SPA -- The Saudi ports realized an unprecedented exceptional leap, during the first quarter of 2021. It reported a rise in the total number of handling containers, with an increase of 16.18 percent, or 2.5 million standard container. The rate is the highest of its kind, in three months, in the history of the seaports, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Saudi ports achieved an exceptional rise in the number of transshipping containers at 41.36 percent, or 1.3 million standard container, represented by 2,973 ships, or an increase of 5 percent compared to the same period, last year. In the first quarter of 2021, the Saudi ports realized an increase in the overall tonnage of goods at 0.82 percent or 68 million tons as well as another eye catching rise in the number of the livestock tally with an increase of 213 percent, or 797 thousand live cattle heads against 151 thousand passengers, while the number of imported cars was over 218 thousand and the total foodstuff was as many as 6 million tons. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia entertain a wide seaports' network along the coasts of the Red Sea as well as the Arabian Gulf, constituting the largest ports' network, in the Middle East, a significant indication of the regional and international logistics clout of the ports of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. --SPA 23:57 LOCAL TIME 20:57 GMT 0050 www.spa.gov.sa/w1553055