Qatar's maritime sector saw general cargo movement jump exponentially this February compared to January with its Hamad, Doha and Al Ruwais ports together reporting a stupendous 88% surge in freight handled.
The three ports saw a 35% surge month-on-month in livestock handled in the review period, said Mwani Qatar in its tweet.
The number of ships calling on Qatar's three ports stood at 207 in February 2023, which shrank 8.41% and 2.82% month-on-month and year-on-year respectively.
Hamad Port, which 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 128 vessels call on the port in the review period.
As many as 433 ships had called on three ports in the first two months of this year.
The general cargo handled through the three ports was 210,104 tonnes in February 2023, which showed an 88.23% and 67.63% surge on monthly and yearly basis 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 63,125 freight tonnes (F/T) of bulk and 141,658F/T of breakbulk in February this year.
On a cumulative basis, the general cargo movement through the three ports totalled 321,721 tonnes during January-February 2023.
The three ports had handled 56,675 livestock in February 2023, which shot up 34.82% month-on-month and more than tripled on an annualised basis.
The three ports together handled 83,668 livestock in the first two months of this year.
The container handling through three ports stood at 112,609 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), which fell 1.28% year-on-year and 1.62% in February 2023.
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 112,197 TEUs of containers handled in the review period.
The container handling through the three ports stood at 225,677 TEUs during January-February.
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 three ports handled 5,665 RORO in February 2023, which registered a 0.75% fall month-on-month but soared 13.48% year-on-year. Hamad Port alone handled 5,653 units in February 2023.
The three ports together handled as many as 11,373 vehicles during January-February 2023.
The building materials traffic through the three ports stood at 38,761 tonnes in February 2023, which tanked 47.62% and 16.88% month-on-month and year-on-year respectively in the review period.
A total of 83,668 tonnes of building materials had been handled by these ports in January-February 2023.