The Hamad Port in the Umm Al Houl area south of Doha will be officially official opened on Tuesday in the presence of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
It will launch a new phase in the history of Qatar, the Qatar News Agency said.
The launching event constitutes an advanced step towards boosting the country's economic and trade movement in line with the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030.
Hamad Port is Qatar’s largest access to the sea and is a gateway to more than 150 destinations around the world, providing the country with complete independence in its import and export of goods to various continents. It is the newest among the six ports extending along the country’s coasts - Doha, Mesaieed, Haloul, Ras Laffan and Ruwais.
The port is located in the city of Mesaieed south of Doha and is the largest of its kind in the Middle East. It has the capacity to receive all types of ships and vessels of various sizes and weights.
The $7.4bn port covers a total area of 28.5sq km and has a general cargo terminal with a capacity of 1.7mn tonnes per year and a grain plant with a capacity of 1mn tonnes per year.
It has stations to receive livestock and coastal security vessels, a customs inspection area, a 110m observation tower, a ship inspection platform, multiple marine facilities and administrative buildings, and a number of other facilities such as warehouses, mosques, restrooms and medical facility.
The port is equipped with the latest equipment and machinery. With an average of 30 containers per hour, the loading and handling of trucks is very fast as a container is unloaded and delivered to an importer in only 20 minutes.
Customs and other entities provide assistance to importers, while the total capacity of the port is about 7.6mn containers, including 2mn containers per year within the port’s first phase of operation. 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.
Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) has expanded its maritime network by launching several direct shipping lines between the Hamad Port and a number of ports in the region and beyond with competitive transit 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, and Mundra and Nava Shiva ports in India.
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 QR1.6bn.
The project will be developed and constructed on a 53-hectare area (530,000sqm) with facilities for the manufacturing, conversion, and refining of rice, raw sugar, and edible oils.
These products will be available for local, regional, and international use. The project also includes storage silos along with its infrastructure and transport equipment, in addition to the construction of infrastructure that has the equipment for handling, processing, packing, reloading, and transport related to the project.
HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim bin Saif al-Sulaiti said Hamad Port’s food security warehouses project will provide a two-year stock of manufactured and stored goods for 3mn people.
He said the contract is related to the first stage of 26 months. The second stage will be the operational phase through the issuance of tenders for the private sector and other stages related to food security. Qatari companies will set up factories in countries including Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan, which will lead to greater self-sufficiency.
His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani
