Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) announced the launch of the first direct service to world-scale Hamad Port with the arrival of a ship, which is part of Ocean Alliance, the world's largest container shipping alliance.
This is part of the Ministry of Transport and Communications “ambitious strategy” aimed at promoting Hamad Port regionally and internationally.
‘CMA CGM Uruguay’ container ship, the first vessel to sail on the new service arrived at Hamad Port evening, Mwani Qatar said.
Ocean Alliance has some 350 container vessel fleet and a total carrying capacity of 3.5mn TEUs.
The new service will support Qatar's foreign trade, increase volume of container handling and reduce the time the goods take from ports served by the Ocean Alliance, Mwani Qatar said.
The alliance offers 40 services on the East-West trades with around 100 ports of call and almost 500 port pairs.
Customers will benefit from a competitive selection of sailing schedules and direct port pairs, fast transit times, and a highly efficient fleet of vessels to cater to the needs of today’s demanding and increasingly green global supply chains.
The new line will also support Hamad Port’s transshipment capabilities and help to reach the goals set to transform Qatar into a regional trading hub, which will have a positive impact on maximising the country's revenues from the non-oil sector and contributing to the achievement of the Qatar National Vision 2030.
"We are pleased to announce the launch of the new direct service of Ocean Alliance, the world's largest container shipping alliance, which will undoubtedly serve the national economy and contribute to achieve the goals set by our wise leadership to promote Hamad Port and transform Qatar into a regional trading hub," said Captain Abdulla al-Khanji, Mwani Qatar chief executive officer.
The new line, which comes in less than three months of the start of the first direct service between Hamad Port and Shanghai in China under MSC’s New Falcon Service, will provide best transit times and reduce the time necessary for goods from 30 to 14 days, he said.
“Meeting the needs of our customers is our priority in Mwani Qatar, we constantly strive to develop and improve services in a way that supports our competitiveness and our presence as a regional and international leading integrated port and logistics services provider”, al-Khanji stressed.
Managed by CMA CGM group, CMA CGM Uruguay is the second largest ship to reach Hamad port since the start of operations. It has a length of about 300 meters and a total capacity of 10,500 TEUs.
The 14,000 TEU containership ‘MSC Esthi’ was the first vessel of such size to visit Hamad Port, which sailed into the port on December 1, 2016 marking the official opening of the port.
About 19 containerships of the same size from the Ocean Alliance are expected to arrive at Hamad Port in the next few months.
Commencing on April 1, 2017 the Ocean Alliance brings together the recently formed China Cosco Shipping, with Evergreen Line, CMA CGM, OOCL and APL in a vessel- and slot-sharing agreement.
Within the Ocean Alliance, CMA CGM group is the largest player, bringing with it 119 ships that account for 35% of the total slot capacity. The group is now the leader of the first global alliance.
