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QNA
Doha
The Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani will attend the official inauguration of Hamad Port, Qatar's main gateway to trade with more than 150 countries, in Umm Al Houl on Tuesday.
The official opening of Hamad Port will help Qatar achieve food security and economic diversification in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
The port, which is playing a vital role in offsetting the impact of the unjust blockade imposed on Qatar since June 5 by opening several new shipping routes to allow the continuous flow of goods to the country, will provide Qatar with complete independence in its import and export of goods.
The port is the newest among the six ports extending along the country's coasts ” Doha, Mesaieed, Haloul, Ras Laffan and Ruwais.
Located in the city of Mesaieed, the port is the largest of its kind in the Middle East with the capacity to receive all types of ships and vessels.
Hamad Port is expected to transform the country into a regional trading centre, boosting the state's strategic inventory of food and medicine, increasing the volume of trade between Qatar and the world, and reducing the cost of imports from abroad.
Spread over 28.5 square kilometres, the $7.4 billion port has a general cargo terminal with a capacity of 1.7 million tonnes per year and a grain plant with a capacity of 1 million tonnes per year.
It also has a terminal each for livestock, coastal security vessels and customs inspection area. The port also has a 110-metre observation tower and a ship inspection platform, multiple marine facilities, administrative buildings and a number of other facilities such as warehouses, mosques, restrooms and a medical centre.
Equipped with the latest equipment and machines, the port can carry out loading and handling of trucks very fast.
A container can be unloaded and delivered to the importer in just 20 minutes, with an average of 30 containers per hour.
Customs and other entities will facilitate importers.
The port can handle about 2 million containers per year within the first phase of operation of the port. Once all the three phases are completed, it can handle 7.6 million containers per year.
During the first half of this year, Qatar ports received up to 470,000 tonnes of general cargo, about 407,000 of livestock, 449,000 tonnes of building materials and more than 400,000 tonnes of equipment and vehicles.
Recently, Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) received the first batch of Doha Metro trains at Hamad Port, two months ahead of schedule, after a 21-day journey from the Japanese port of Kobe.
QATAR Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) has expanded its maritime network by launching several direct shipping lines between Hamad Port and a number of ports in the region and beyond in the recent past with competitive transit in order to provide fast and secure solutions to exporters and suppliers from around the world.
The new routes connect Qatar ports to Sohar and Salalah ports in Oman, Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait, Karachi port in Pakistan, Izmir port in Turkey as well as Mundra and Nhava Sheva ports in India. The new line between Hamad Port and Sohar Port will provide direct shipping services at a weekly rate of three trips, with the trip lasting 1.5 days.
The direct transport service between Hamad Port and Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait will be weekly and the transit duration will be competitive at just one day. The new service is ideal for perishable goods and foodstuffs.
The navigation line with Karachi Port in Pakistan will also be weekly and will boost trade between Qatar and Pakistan. It will help in providing swift and guaranteed solutions for exporters and importers from both the countries.
It also decreases the transit duration from Hamad Port to Karachi to six days and eight days in the return.
Emphasising the economic importance of Hamad Port, a contract was signed for the design and construction of the premises and food security facilities at the port at a cost of QR1.6 billion. The project will be developed and constructed on 530,000 square metres featuring facilities for manufacturing, conversion and refining of rice, raw sugar and edible oils. These products will be available for local, regional and international use.
