Jeddah Port Sets Record with 582,900 Containers Handled in October

Key Facts

Jeddah Islamic Port recorded its highest monthly container throughput in its history in October 2026, handling 582,900 twenty-foot equivalent units, Saudi Gazette reported, citing a spokesperson for the Saudi Ports Authority. Container handling across Saudi ports rose 14% year on year in the same month. The figures place Jeddah at the center of an ongoing shift in the distribution of imports between the Kingdom’s western and eastern coasts. The record comes as August data document a major shift in imports toward Jeddah, according to a Gulf Research Center report published in October. It also coincides with severe disruption in the Strait of Hormuz since late February and renewed security risks in Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea, the report said. The spokesperson did not link October’s figure to a single cause or describe it as a direct result of the strait’s closure.

October’s figure exceeded the port’s previous record, set in June, by 27.45%, according to the spokesperson cited by the newspaper. The comparison reflects a clear expansion in monthly throughput over four months, while the figures alone do not show how much each trade route or cargo category contributed to the increase. Container handling, measured in twenty-foot equivalent units, differs from the value of imports tracked by the Gulf Research Center report. The two figures should therefore be read together as indicators of increased logistics activity and trade redistribution, not as a single measure of cargo volume or value. Across Saudi ports as a whole, the 14% year-on-year increase was smaller than the jump in Jeddah compared with its previous record. The spokesperson’s statement did not detail throughput at other ports or their contribution to October’s growth.

The Gulf Research Center report describes a major shift in imports toward the western coast in August, amid severe disruption in the Strait of Hormuz since late February and renewed security risks in Bab el-Mandeb and the Red Sea. This picture supports viewing the shift as a geographic redistribution of imports, but does not establish that the continued closure of Hormuz was a direct cause of Jeddah’s October record. In March, Maersk’s chief executive said some containers were being unloaded in Jeddah during the strait’s closure and then transported overland to Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. He said the port could become “an important entry and exit point for the Arabian Peninsula,” referring to containers being trucked to Kuwait and Bahrain. These remarks show how Jeddah can play a role in regional overland connections when maritime routes are disrupted, but they do not determine what share of October’s throughput came from this activity. Nor do they establish that the port became the main destination for diverted cargo.

Logistics activity indicators outside import and container-handling figures appear mixed. From the perspective presented in the Gulf Research Center report, stronger imports were accompanied by weakness in vessel calls, exports and transshipment, meaning that increased flows into Jeddah alone do not describe the performance of all components of port activity. October’s data provide a specific measure of handling: a monthly record in Jeddah and year-on-year growth across Saudi ports. The report published in October focuses on the shift in imports during August, a period before the monthly record. Taken together, the two periods make it possible to track the activity shift over several months while keeping import value and container handling as separate indicators. The authority’s statement did not include details on exports or transshipment in October.

In an operational update issued in August, Maersk said Saudi import and export shipments would continue to move through Jeddah, including cargo bound for Riyadh and Dammam using the existing land bridge. “Saudi import and export shipments will continue to move through Jeddah,” the company said, noting that the route covers goods destined for the two cities. This arrangement provides operational context for Jeddah’s role in moving goods within the Kingdom, alongside its use on some regional overland routes. On November 2, the Associated Press reported that Iran said it had a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks if Washington met its demands. The announcement ties the strait’s future traffic to a stated political course, without in itself establishing that it has reopened or that disruption to shipping has ended. October’s data remain the latest operational figure available on container handling at Jeddah and Saudi ports.