MSC Heidi will call on Hamad Port tomorrow, making it the first vessel from the Far East to arrive in Doha since the beginning of the blockade on June 5, according to sources.
The vessel is carrying a large volume of goods, including foodstuff, the sources point out.The ship has a capacity of 9,000TEUs and will have more than 1,000TEUs of containers to be discharged at Hamad Port, officials from Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which operates the vessel, have said.
The vessel, which left the major Chinese port of Shanghai, has called on ports such as Ningbo and Shenzhen in China, Singapore, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Jebel Ali in the UAE, Dammam in Saudi Arabia and Umm Qasar in Iraq before arriving in Doha, it is learnt. It will return directly to Shanghai from Hamad Port. Later in the day, another MSC vessel, Seaboxer 111, is arriving with cargo from Salalah, Oman.
The sources also informed that MSC Kerry arrived at Hamad Port a couple of days ago from Salalah with cargo from Kuwait and Oman. More than 660 containers of more than 1,200TEUs were offloaded at Hamad Port.
Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) tweeted about the ship’s arrival, saying “MSC Kerry arrived at Hamad Port on its maiden voyage from Salalah port, Oman”.
Recently, the first of the two vessels operating under the new India Qatar Express Service docked at Hamad Port. The vessel, Hansa Magdeburg, had sailed from Nhava Sheva port in India.
More global liners are reportedly keen to call on Hamad Port, looking to utilise its infrastructural facilities, according to sources.
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