Aamal’s new subsidiary, Aamal for Maritime Transportation Services (AMTS), will take ownership of vessels initially to transport aggregates from Al Fujairah in the UAE to Mesaieed Industrial City in Qatar.
Qatar-based Aamal, one of the Gulf’s fastest growing diversified companies, has established a new subsidiary, Aamal for Maritime Transportation Services (AMTS).
AMTS will take ownership of vessels initially to transport aggregates from Al Fujairah in the UAE to Mesaieed Industrial City in Qatar.
AMTS will ensure security of supply for Aamal’s owned subsidiary Gulf Rocks, a leading importer and provider of high quality gabbro aggregates which are widely used in concrete products essential to Qatar’s infrastructure development programme as part of its National Vision 2030.
In addition to meeting Aamal’s transportation requirements, AMTS will make capacity available to third party operators to optimise the vessels’ utilisation rates and profitability. The vessels are capable of shipping non-industrial commodities such as grains as well as aggregates and similar industrial raw materials.
In line with Aamal’s strategy to partner with world-class specialists with the requisite skills and experience to enter new markets and services successfully, operational management of AMTS’s vessels will be undertaken by Peter Döhle Group, one of the world’s leading providers of international shipping services, under a fixed term rolling service agreement.
Commercial operations will start immediately as the acquisition of the first vessel, a bulk carrier with a capacity of 56,726 tonnes, has been completed.
AMTS will have an initial share capital of QR200,000, which will be internally funded through cash, and without any debt financing. Aamal will hold 1% of the shares directly, with the remaining 99% held by Gulf Rocks.
Aamal will have an overall effective interest of 74.75% in AMTS. The establishment of AMTS has no effect on the financial position of Aamal Company.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal al-Thani, Aamal vice chairman said: “I am very pleased that we have taken this decision to expand into maritime commodity transportation with the establishment of a new subsidiary, Aamal for Maritime Transportation Services. Owning our own vessels will give us greater control over security of supply of the raw materials that we need to import, whilst operational risk is minimised through partnering with Peter Döhle Group, a leading and highly respected global provider of shipping services, to manage this subsidiary.”
Tarek M el-Sayed, Aamal managing director said, “Setting up a new subsidiary to ship in our raw material requirements can only be a good thing as it gives us much greater control of our supply lines, in terms of both security and responsiveness to end-market demands. Initially, we will be starting with only one vessel but will be looking to expand in line with our needs.
“We expect at first to be limiting ourselves to importing aggregates from the UAE, essential for manufacturing concrete to meet Qatar’s growing infrastructure requirements, but this type of vessel has the capability to transport other commodities too, both industrial and non-industrial. This versatility, along with the opportunities to charter out capacity to third party operators when not required by Aamal, greatly enhances the profit potential.”
