Minister of Transport: Damietta Port Achieves Highest Cargo Handling Rate in Its History
Cairo – Ahmed Sabri: Transport Minister Eng. Kamel El-Wazir confirmed that Port of Damietta has achieved a new milestone, adding to its record of successes, after recording the highest cargo throughput since its establishment in 1986. Total throughput during the fiscal year (2025–2026) reached approximately 46.4 million tons, compared to around 44.2 million tons in the fiscal year (2024–2025), representing a growth rate of 5%. He noted that this reflects the continuous growth in the port’s operational performance rates and the success of development and modernization plans underway across its various facilities.
In a statement released by the Ministry of Transport, the minister said that detailed performance indicators showed sustained growth in various ship movement and cargo handling activities at Port of Damietta. The number of ships received by the port rose to 3,261, compared to 3,221 in the previous fiscal year, marking a growth rate of approximately 1%. General cargo throughput also saw notable growth, reaching 31.6 million tons during the fiscal year (2025–2026), compared to around 29.7 million tons in the previous fiscal year, an increase of 6%. Handled cargo recorded approximately 14.8 million tons, compared to 14.4 million tons, with a growth rate of 3%, reflecting the growing demand for the port’s services and its capacity to accommodate the continuous increase in maritime trade and transport.
The Transport Minister added that this achievement comes within the framework of the comprehensive boom experienced by Port of Damietta, in implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, to develop Egyptian ports and transform Egypt into a regional hub for transport, logistics, and transit trade. In this regard, he pointed to the Ministry of Transport’s strategy aimed at enhancing the efficiency of Egyptian ports, maximizing their competitiveness, and accommodating the growing volume of regional and international trade.
For his part, Rear Admiral Eng. Tarek Adly Abdalla, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port of Damietta Authority, stated that achieving this record reflects the success of the comprehensive development system the port is undergoing, operational efficiency, and integration among all entities working within the port community, in line with the state’s direction toward building a modern and advanced maritime transport system capable of supporting trade flows and enhancing Egypt’s status as a regional logistics hub.
Abdalla said that maintaining this distinguished level of performance is a national responsibility that requires continuing to develop the operational system, upgrading the quality of maritime and logistics services, and enhancing human resource efficiency, thereby ensuring the sustainability of growth rates and attracting more shipping lines and trade flows. He noted that this achievement reflects the efficiency of the work system within Port of Damietta and the continuous development of its infrastructural and superstructural assets, the modernization of operational systems, and the improvement of maritime and logistics services, which contributed to increasing throughput rates and achieving the highest levels of operational performance.
He also highlighted that this achievement confirms that the results were attained through continuous integration and coordination among various sectors and departments within the Port of Damietta Authority, teamwork, and the sincere efforts of all workers and the port community, which directly translated into higher operational rates, achievement of targets, and enhanced capacity to attract more shipping lines and trade flows.
The Chairman of the Port of Damietta Authority expressed his sincere appreciation to all workers at the Authority and the port community, commending their dedicated efforts and continuous contribution, which played a significant role in achieving this historic milestone. He affirmed that teamwork would remain the fundamental pillar for continuing to achieve further successes in the coming phase.
He clarified that this success embodies the growing status of Port of Damietta as one of Egypt’s most important key ports on the Mediterranean, benefiting from its strategic geographical location, modern infrastructure, and developmental and logistics projects, which support its role in serving regional and international trade flows and enhance its contribution to supporting the national economy and consolidating its position as an integrated logistics hub.
