REFERENCE DESK · SEA & AIR · 2020–2025
GCC Freight & Cargo Statistics
Annual cargo volumes for the six Gulf Cooperation Council states — Saudi Arabia first — compiled from official port-authority, airport and UN releases. Sea freight is shown in tonnes handled and container throughput (TEU); air freight in tonnes. Where an authority has not published a figure, the cell reads n/p — this desk does not print estimates.
Method. Official sources only, named under every table. Road and land-border freight is excluded because no GCC state publishes an audited annual series for it. Container throughput includes transshipment and empties — see the FAQ below.
Saudi Arabia
The only GCC state publishing an official import/export container split. Figures cover the ports managed by the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani).
Sea — Mawani ports
| Year | Cargo (million tonnes) | Containers (million TEU) | Container imports (M TEU) | Container exports (M TEU) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 290.0 | n/p | n/p | n/p |
| 2022 | 316.6 | 7.53 | 2.32 | 2.24 |
| 2023 | 300.5 | 8.44 | 2.62 | 2.59 |
| 2024 | 320.8 | 7.52 | 2.98 | 2.82 |
| 2025 | n/p | 8.30 | n/p | n/p |
Kingdom-wide throughput including King Abdullah Port was 11.38M TEU in 2023 (10.44M in 2022). The 2024 dip in total TEU reflects a 46.7% fall in transshipment to 1.72M TEU — import and export boxes both grew.
Air — main cargo airports, 2024
| Airport | Cargo (tonnes) |
|---|---|
| Riyadh · King Khalid Intl (RUH) | 573,000 |
| Jeddah · King Abdulaziz Intl (JED) | 461,000 |
| Dammam · King Fahd Intl (DMM) | 140,000 |
SOURCES · Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) via Saudi Press Agency · US-Saudi Business Council · airport operators / industry reporting (2024)
United Arab Emirates
The Gulf’s largest container complex. National totals from UNCTAD; Jebel Ali figures from DP World.
Sea
| Year | Containers, all ports (M TEU) | of which Jebel Ali (M TEU) |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 20.30 | n/p |
| 2023 | 21.14 | 14.5 |
| 2024 | ≈23.1 | 15.5 |
Jebel Ali also handled 5.4M tonnes of breakbulk in 2024 (+23% year on year), its second-best result in a decade. The UAE does not publish a single national ports-tonnage series.
Air
| Airport | 2023 (tonnes) | 2024 (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|
| Dubai Intl (DXB) | 1,800,000 | 2,200,000 |
| Dubai DXB + Al Maktoum (DWC) combined | n/p | 2,800,000 |
| Abu Dhabi (AUH) | 560,434 | 678,990 |
| Sharjah (SHJ) | n/p | ≈400,000 |
DXB handled 1.84M tonnes in pandemic-year 2020 against 2.38M in 2019 — 2024 marked the hub’s full recovery.
SOURCES · UNCTAD container port throughput · DP World · Dubai Airports · AD Ports Group / Etihad · industry reporting
Qatar
Hamad Port carries the sea trade; Hamad International Airport is one of the world’s top air-cargo hubs.
Sea
| Year | Containers (M TEU) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 1.54 |
| 2023 | 1.32 |
| 2024 | 1.42 |
Air
| Year | Hamad Intl (DOH), tonnes |
|---|---|
| 2023 | ≈2,320,000 |
| 2024 | 2,600,000 |
2021 remains Qatar’s record container year. Mwani Qatar does not publish an annual national tonnage series.
SOURCES · UNCTAD container port throughput · Hamad International Airport (2024 release, +12% year on year)
Kuwait
Shuwaikh, Shuaiba and Doha ports under the Kuwait Ports Authority.
Sea
| Year | Containers (M TEU) |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 0.96 |
| 2020 | 0.86 |
The Kuwait Ports Authority has not released comparable full-year figures in the open UNCTAD series since 2020; later cells stay empty until it does. No official annual air-cargo tonnage series is published.
SOURCES · UNCTAD container port throughput
Bahrain
Khalifa Bin Salman Port (APM Terminals) is the Kingdom’s single commercial gateway.
Sea & air
| Metric | Recent annual level |
|---|---|
| Khalifa Bin Salman Port, containers | ≈0.40 M TEU |
| Bahrain Intl Airport, air cargo | ≈350,000 tonnes |
Bahrain publishes monthly port statistics on its open-data portal (data.gov.bh); the annual levels above are the recent run-rate reported by the operator and industry press. ≈ marks operator/industry figures rather than a state statistical release.
SOURCES · APM Terminals Bahrain · Bahrain Open Data Portal · Air Cargo Week Middle East fact file
Oman
Salalah, Sohar and Duqm — the GCC’s fastest-growing ports system in 2024.
Sea
| Year | Cargo, all ports (million tonnes) | Containers (M TEU) |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 119 | n/p |
| 2024 | 137 | 4.2 |
2024: Salalah ≈3.3M TEU, Sohar 943,000 TEU; Sohar alone moved 74.5M tonnes. Duqm cargo grew 152%. No official annual air-cargo tonnage series is published.
SOURCES · Oman Ministry of Transport, Communications & IT · Sohar Port and Freezone · Port of Salalah
Frequently asked questions
What does TEU stand for?
TEU is a twenty-foot equivalent unit — the volume of one standard 20-foot shipping container. It is the industry’s standard volumetric measure for container traffic: a 40-foot container counts as two TEU. When a port reports “8.4 million TEU”, that is the total container volume it lifted across its quays in the year.
Where do these figures come from?
Official releases only: the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani) via the Saudi Press Agency, UNCTAD’s container port throughput series, Dubai Airports, DP World, AD Ports Group, Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and IT, Hamad International Airport and other airport and port operators. Every country section lists its sources.
Why do some cells say n/p?
n/p means not published: the authority in question has not released an official figure for that year and metric. We leave the cell empty rather than fill it with an estimate — on a statistics page, a blank is more honest than a guess.
Why does only Saudi Arabia show an import/export split?
Mawani is the only GCC ports authority that publishes an official annual split of inbound and outbound containers. Other countries release total throughput only, so that is what we print.
Why is road and land-border freight not shown?
No GCC state publishes an official annual road-freight tonnage series comparable to port and airport statistics. Rather than print modelled estimates, this page covers the two modes with audited public data: sea and air.
Do container figures include transshipment?
Yes. Port throughput counts every container lifted over the quay — imports, exports, empties and transshipment boxes moving between vessels. That is why throughput can move sharply when transshipment patterns shift: Saudi transshipment volumes, for example, fell 46.7% in 2024 while import and export boxes both grew.
How often is this page updated?
Once the full-year official releases land, usually in the first quarter. Spotted an error or a fresher official figure? Write to the newsdesk — corrections are welcome.
Reading these tables — glossary
TEU — twenty-foot equivalent unit, the volume of one standard 20-foot container; a 40-foot box counts as two TEU. The industry’s volumetric measure for container traffic.
Tonnage — the weight of all cargo handled: containers, dry bulk, liquid bulk and general cargo together.
Throughput — everything lifted over the quay in a year, in both directions, including empties and transshipment.
Transshipment — boxes transferred between vessels at a hub port without entering the local market.
n/p — not published by the responsible authority · ≈ — operator or industry figure, not a state statistical release.