TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA

THE National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) has signed a 50.63 million Saudi riyals ($13.5 million) deal to transport aluminum products for Qatar Aluminum Company (Qatalum) from the Mesaieed port to the US.

The one-year contract includes an option for extending it for an additional year and it also allows NSCSA to transport other aluminum shipments from Qatar to Turkey and Italy, NSCSA said in a statement posted on the Saudi bourse website on Saturday.

The deal will have a positive impact on NSCSA’s financial results this year, Saleh al Jasser, the company’s chief executive, said in the statement.

Qatalum’s CEO Tom Petter Johansen said, “Qatalum is a company dedicated to environmental and operational efficiency with excellent product quality.

In signing this new ocean transportation agreement, we can secure and improve our distribution through the US market, and leveraging this improvement to further the efficiency of our distribution,” he said.

Qatalum Deputy CEO Khalid Laram said, “As the engine of global growth switches to emerging markets, and the production of aluminium is in greater demand, our role is an important one to support downstream businesses.

“And of course, in its growth and importation of international best practice, Qatalum can continue to be a catalyst for business development in Qatar and the rest of the GCC.” NSCSA CEO Saleh al Jasser said, “As a shipping company, we always look for partners we can trust, and with whom we can grow. In Qatalum, we have an exciting future for expansion of distribution into the US market.” Qatar Aluminum is a fifty-fifty joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Norway-based aluminum group Norsk Hydro.