Qatar’s supportive legislations and policies, and heavy investments in maritime transport sector have started yielding results. Qatar has achieved leading position in global maritime transport sector.
Country’s maritime sector has secured high ranks in several global rankings, said Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif bin Ahmed Al Sulaiti, on Tuesday speaking at the Qatar Maritime and Logistics Summit.
H E the Minister pointed out that Qatar has ranked 12th globally in the quality of port infrastructure in the World Bank’s Competitiveness Report 2019, and it has jumped four places in the efficiency of seaport services index to become 15th globally.
H E the Minister of Transport and Communications said that in terms of efficient logistics services, Qatar has ranked second in the Arab world and 30 globally, and its ranking rose from 26 to nine globally in the international shipments index in just two years. It reflects the significant growth in the volume of Qatar’s international freight thanks to the advanced capabilities of Hamad Port and its important role in securing stable and sustainable supply chains that provide customers with integrated and competitive services.
Hamad Port, one of the largest ports in the Middle East, has led from the front in boosting Qatar maritime sector as it occupied the lion’s share in the overall port traffic. Qatar’s maritime sector is expected to witness another year of strong growth as various steps have been taken by the concerned authorities to boost goods traffic at the ports. One of the major steps include expansions of Hamad Port.
The development works of Phase II of the Hamad Port, which consist of second container terminal (CT-2), has already begun. As part of the development of CT-2, QTerminals had announced in December last year that it had placed an order for 24 Terminal Trailers.
The agreement will play important role in transforming Qatar into a vibrant regional trading hub in the region. The agreement will also help in attracting more trans-shipment containers and encourage more international shipping lines to add Hamad Port to their regional routes and sign similar agreements in the future.
Mwani Qatar had also signed a container services agreement in November last year, with the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to use Hamad Port as a regional hub to manage transshipments for up to 150,000 TEUs per year, growing to one million TEUs by 2023. Mwani Qatar has inked agreements with a number of local, regional and international players to strengthen Hamad Port’s status in the region.
