Passenger traffic through Aqaba Port records 124% hike in Q3 2021

AMMAN — Passenger traffic through the Aqaba Port increased 124 per cent in the third quarter of 2021, mainly due to the gradual resumption of normal work between Aqaba and Egypt’s Nuweiba, Secretary General of the Jordan Navigation Syndicate (JNS) Captain Mohammad Dalabih said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Dalabih said that the port’s passenger traffic increased to 133,000 travellers in September 2021, compared with 59,000 passengers in the same period last year. The increases have occurred after more than a year of pandemic-related restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus. 

A total of 1,339 ships were docked at the Aqaba Port in the first nine months of 2021, marking an increase of 13 per cent compared with 1,180 ships in the same period last year, he added.

Dalabih pointed out that the port’s handling process also increased to 10.9 million handlings in the first nine months. The number of wheeled cargo, shipped to the port via roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships, reached 9,425 vehicles, marking an increase of 7.3 per cent compared with the same period of 2020.

On the other hand, the secretary general referred to a 10.5 per cent decline in the number of container traffic in 2021 due to the rise in freight fees, the reduction of imports and shortages in the number of empty containers.

He added that the cruise tourist ships have registered "a slow pace" during 2021 due to the slow recovery of tourism from the pandemic’s repercussions. However, he expected the number of ships to increase next year.