Khalifa Port logs 97,000 containers by May

TDT | Manama

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Khalifa Bin Salman Port handled 238 ship calls between January and May 2026, with general cargo vessels accounting for most traffic, figures from Bahrain's open data portal show.

The data, from Ports and Maritime Affairs at the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, listed 127 general cargo ships, 94 container ships and 17 cruise ships over the five-month period.

Ship calls were strongest at the start of the year. The port handled 67 ships in January and 64 in February, before the count fell to 29 in March. It then rose to 31 in April and 48 in May.

General cargo vessels made up the bulk of the traffic. The port handled 32 such ships in January and the same number in February, followed by 17 in March and 14 in April. The figure returned to 32 in May.

General cargo volumes stood at about 41,000 tonnes over the period. January made up nearly all of that amount, with about 40,000 tonnes handled. February saw 56 tonnes, March recorded none, while April and May recorded 59 tonnes and about 105 tonnes.

Container ship calls totalled 94. There were 26 in January, 24 in February, 11 in March, 17 in April and 16 in May.

The port handled about 97,000 containers, including inbound and outbound traffic. Inbound containers reached about 51,000, with 19,000 in January, 15,000 in February, 6,000 in March, 8,000 in April and about 3,000 in May.

Outbound containers stood at about 46,000. The monthly figures were 17,000 in January, 14,000 in February, 6,000 in March, 7,000 in April and 2,000 in May.

Cruise ships called only in January and February, with nine ships in the first month and eight in the second.

The data also listed about 9,000 cars imported through the port. Around 3,000 were recorded in January and nearly 7,000 in February, followed by 609 in March. No car imports were recorded in April or May amid disruption to regional shipping.