RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s ports witnessed a 21.14 percent increase in container volumes to 693,523 twenty-foot equivalent units in March 2023 from 572,475 TEUs in March 2022, according to Saudi Ports Authority, also called Mawani. The increase was fueled by a 17.74 percent gain in exports in March 2023 to 195,495 TEUs last month from 166,045 TEUs in the year-ago period. Imported containers rose 37.5 percent to 224,221 TEUs in March 2023 from 162,876 units. Transshipments registered a 12.83 growth to 274,807 TEUs against the previous year’s 243,554 units. The monthly cargo tonnage in March equaled 26,102,998 tons, indicating a 5.81 percent uptick from 24,670,510 tons in the previous year. The cargo tonnage included 523,513 tons of general cargo, 4,588,115 tons of liquid bulk cargo and 13,594,542 tons of dry bulk cargo. Food volumes also jumped 37.52 percent last month to reach 1,487,327 tons, up from 2,045,428 tons in the corresponding period a year ago. The data revealed that livestock imports saw a 496.26 percent yearly spike, hitting 623,644 cattle heads from 104,592. Moreover, while vehicle volumes climbed 11.42 percent in March compared to the same period in 2022, the number of vessels that dropped anchor at Saudi ports increased by 12.52 percent. As for passenger traffic, it saw a 21.16 percent yearly rise, amounting to 104,575 passengers from 86,308 passengers, showed the data. However, the growth rate of the overall container traffic of Saudi ports paled ahead of the February 2023 figures. It clocked a 7.76 percent increase in container traffic in February 2023, handling 622,837 units compared to the same month a year earlier. There have been several initiatives by Mawani to further develop the national maritime sector, optimize its operational efficiency, and create an effective regulatory and legislative environment that facilitates streamlined processes. These activities align with the National Transport and Logistics Strategy’s objective of transforming Saudi Arabia into an international logistics hub linking three major continents.