Qatar's maritime sector saw a 1% gain in transshipment volumes in November 2022, as about 116,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) and more than 142,000 tonnes of general cargo were handled at the Hamad, Doha and Ruwais ports, according to the official data.
The number of ships calling on Qatar's three ports were 269 in November 2022, which was 6.92% and 15.67% lower year-on-year and month-on-month respectively, said Mwani Qatar in a tweet.
As many as 2,764 ships has called on three ports during January-November of this year.
"The maritime sector of Qatar has undergone a significant transformation in recent years,” Mwani Qatar had said in a tweet.
Hamad Port – whose strategic geographical location offers opportunities to create cargo movement towards the upper Gulf, supporting countries such as Kuwait and Iraq and south towards Oman – saw as many as 133 vessels call on the port in the review period.
The November also saw the inauguration of port community system “Mwanina” – an electronic platform that allows smart and secure exchange of information between persons concerned and the entities associated with the Hamad Port, thus helping improve and develop the importation and exportation operations and making them more efficient and less costly.
The general cargo handled through the three ports stood at 142,680 tonnes in November 2022, which showed a 17.09% and 11.49% decline on yearly and monthly respectively in the review period.
Hamad Port – whose multi-use terminal is designed to serve the supply chains for the RORO (vehicles), grains and livestock – handled 81,125 freight tonnes of bulk and 55,450 freight tonnes of breakbulk in November this year.
On a cumulative basis, the general cargo movement through the three ports totalled 1.46mn tonnes during January-November this year.
The three ports handled 6,939 RORO in November 2022, which registered a 34.4% and 4.19% increase year-on-year and month-on-month respectively. Hamad Port alone handled 6,712units in November this year.
The three ports together handled as many as 73,138 vehicles during January-November 2022.
The container handling through three ports stood at 115,968 TEUs, which showed 7.17% and 10.44% decline year-on-year and month-on-month respectively in November 2022.
Hamad Port, which is the largest eco-friendly project in the region and internationally recognised as one of the largest green ports in the world, saw 113,895 TEUs of containers handled this November.
The container handling through the three ports stood at 1.31mn TEUs during January-November this year.
The container terminals have been designed to address the increasing trade volume, enhancing ease of doing business as well as supporting the achievement of economic diversification, which is one of the most important goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030.
The building materials traffic through the three ports stood at 61,203 tonnes in November this year, which shot up 50.36% and 7.2% year-on-year and month-on-month respectively.
A total of 470,854 tonnes of building materials had been handled by these ports during January-November 2022.
The three ports had handled 17,381 livestock in November 2022, which showed 27.84% and 21.15% decrease on yearly and monthly basis respectively. The ports had handled a total of 166,741 heads during January-November this year.
The Doha Port Redevelopment project, carried out to the port’s basin and quay, has contributed to boosting its capacity for receiving the world’s largest cruise ships as it received supersize floating hotels during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which is currently underway.
"Qatar’s maritime sector is expected to witness another year of strong growth in light of the efforts taken by the authorities concerned to boost goods traffic at the ports, with expectations of supply chains improving during the next few periods," Mwani Qatar had said in its latest annual report.
As many as 2,764 ships has called on three ports during January-November of this year
