Qatar: Shipping sector hopeful of ‘phenomenal growth’

The shipping circles in Qatar are hopeful of a “phenomenal growth” in their activities in the coming months as more local industries and companies seek to bring in their goods through Hamad Port.

When contacted, sources in the shipping industry said since the blockade on Qatar started on June 5, there have been demands from the local firms to vessel operators to consider bringing larger ships to the port located on the southern side of Doha.

Though the activities at the port were normal in the first week of the blockade, a large growth in the volume of cargoes handled has been recorded from the second week onwards.

Inquiries found there was a steady increase amounting to nearly 40% in the volume handled at the port in each of the three weeks.

The figures have given the shipping circles a lot of hope, said a senior official of shipping company.

He said each of the shipping offices in Doha has been receiving requests from customers and messages have been going across to their global offices to operate more direct services to Hamad Port, considering the growing requirements of the country, especially in such sectors as infrastructure development, foodstuff and automobiles, among others.

The general impression among the shipping operators is that even if the traffic through Abu Samra, the only land route to Qatar is resumed, the shipping companies would continue to have a major role to play as more and more local companies, especially contractors executing infrastructural projects, are seeking their assistance for bringing goods directly from such destinations as Europe and Far East Asia.

Before the beginning of the blockade, it used to take at least one trans-shipment of containers at Jebel Ali Port for cargoes to arrive in Qatar. For those goods transported through the Adriatic waters, usually there were two or sometimes even three trans-shipments before the cargoes finally arrived in Doha.

Now, with such liners as Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Maersk demonstrating keen interest to operate larger vessels to Hamad Port, things are looking up for the local port, which at present has a container capacity of more than 1.5mn.

The understanding in the shipping world is that Qatar’s requirements are growing owing to such massive projects as construction of stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and also the ongoing Doha Metro project.

Sources in the trading circles said 800 and 900 trailers used to arrive daily through the country’s only land border in Abu Samra.

The shipping industry is hopeful that a sizeable percentage of goods that were transported through the land route, especially those from Europe, would now be brought in through ships in coming days.

It is learnt that cargoes from some of the European ports take 25 and 30 days to reach Qatar through one or two (sometimes even three) trans-shipments. “For commodities other than perishable goods, there is no issue even if it takes a few more days for them to arrive in Qatar by ships from far-flung destinations,” said a shipping agent.