Doha: S’hail Shipping and Maritime Services held its 4th Annual General Meeting online on February 15 at its head office in West Bay, Doha.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mohamed Khalifa Al Sada, Chairman and Managing Director stated, “the prolonged lockdown of global economy adversely shocked the supply and demand resulting in weak freight earnings particularly during the first half of 2020”. Closing of borders, disruption of air travel and COVID tests / quarantine requirements caused severe strains on planning operation of the ships.
Taking advantage of weak market and asset prices coupled with the news of likely development of vaccines in 2020-21, the company in Oct-2020 bought its eighth ship – “S’hail Lusail”, 2007 built in Japan, 86041 dwt bulk carrier at about QR36m partly financed by Qatar Development Bank.
Al Sada said that, “even as market was in turmoil, the company’s strategy was fully focused in operating its business safely, profitably and with prospects of growth.” He said, “thanks to the able guidance of the Board and excellent performance of the operating team, the FY2020 too turned out to become a profitable year”. With the declaration of 5 percent cash dividend at the AGM, the company since its inception in Dec-2016 has every year distributed dividends now totalling about QR51.5m.
Along with Rajiv Pal, CEO; Al Sada said, “Barring any further disruptions due to COVID, the market in 2021 and 2022 looks promising more boosted by the prediction of ship supply growth trailing demand growth”. Now, with a fleet of eight dry bulk carriers aggregating to about 570k dwt, S’hail has learnt not only to safely navigate through troubled waters since its inception in 2016 but also responsibly grow to create meaningful value for all its stakeholders.
