File photo for recently introduced new routes connecting Qatar ports to Izmir port in Turkey.
Doha: Owing to the opening of Hamad Port and launch of new shipping lines after imposition of blockade, Qatar’s maritime and logistics company, Milaha, is set to benefit from higher earnings of global shipping industry.
“Milaha stands to benefit in the near term from higher earnings across the shipping industry, a trend that should also support Qatar’s broader maritime trade ambitions,” said a recent report titled “Qatar to benefit from new shipping services” released by Oxford Business Group.
The report points out that on September 22, the Baltic Dry Index – the main sea freight index that tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk – reached a near three-and-a-half-year high of 1502. Average daily earnings for Cape, Panamax and Supramax vessels stood at $22,392, $12,006 and $10,723, respectively, up from $15,202, $5790 and $7019 in the previous year. The OBG report predicts that new (shipping) services will support Qatar’s efforts to diversify its trading partners, a target underpinned by the country’s $7.4bn Hamad Port.
It particularly mentions two new services launched last month. On September 17 the Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company and Taiwan’s Yang Ming Transport Corporation both opened new weekly lines to Hamad Port.
Four ships, each with the capacity to accommodate 6000 containers, including 400 reefer containers, have begun operating on MSC’s new East Mediterranean Service, which runs between ports in Turkey, Greece, India, Oman and Qatar.
Yang Ming, meanwhile, launched its China Gulf Express Service with a single vessel that can also carry 6000 containers. The ship’s route takes in Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen and Shekou ports in China, Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Port Klang (Malaysia) and Hamad Port.
On Hamad Port, OBG report says that the port has been in partial operation since late 2015, when it began catering to vessels carrying roll-on/roll-off cargo, livestock and heavy equipment. However, the facility is now able to accommodate large container ships for the first time. “This additional facility is pivotal for Qatar as recent regional tensions have meant that Doha-bound cargo can no longer be transferred from larger ships to smaller vessels in the UAE and at ports in Oman as was previously the case.”
The report suggests that the construction of separate terminals designed to handle general cargo, cereal, livestock and vehicles at Hamad Port is expected to support pursuit of these goals.
Separately, according to statistics released by Mwani (Qatar Ports Management Company) last week, ports of Qatar have seen a steep rise in the movement of cargo in the last six months (April to September).
Ports in Qatar have seen strong surge in the movement of general cargo, containers, livestock and aggregates. The movement of containers from ports has jumped by around 81 percent during April - September period this year. According to stats, Mwani Qatar handled 83,260 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in September 2017 compared to 46,056 TEUs in April this year.
Movement of general cargo witnessed 376 percent surge since June 2017 and 26 percent rise since April 2017 as, the company cleared 148,217 tonnes of general cargo in September 2017 compared to 31,105 tonnes in June and 117,614 tonnes in April.
Mwani Qatar in cooperation with its partners had, in the past few months, inaugurated a number of new direct shipping lines between Hamad port and a number of ports in the region and beyond.
The new routes connected Qatar ports to Sohar and Salalah ports in Oman, Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait, Karachi port in Pakistan, Izmir port in Turkey, Mundra and Jawaharlal Nehru Port, also known as Nhava Sheva Port, in India.
