‘Blockade came as a real test for Qatar-based companies’

The Gulfcrisis served as a litmus test for Qatar-based companies, Doha-residentSajjad Ahmed Khan told Qatar Urdu Radio’s live show Haqeeqat yesterday.“It was a survival of the fittest.” “The companies that surviveddespite the blockade were the ones based in Qatar and had establishedlinks over a long period of time, while companies with short-term goalssuch as those that came to Doha after the 2008 financial crisis fromDubai could not survive,” Khan asserted.A senior manager of sales& marketing at Gulf Incon, Khan said that prior to the siege, nearly85% of imports to Qatar came from Jebel Ali port in UAE, while manyfood items were coming from Saudi Arabia. But in a single mostdefining moment all sea, land and air routes were shut down and with itJebel Ali was closed for business as well. “There was panic in theinitial stages, risks were to be analysed, and the first challenge wasto find a way to get our containers out of Jebel Ali,” Khan recalled.“There was zero communication or information about the containers thatwere stuck in the UAE so we had to take help from other channels, andamong them Oman played a great role.”UAE was imposing hefty fines on the containers stuck at the Jebel Ali port. Khan praised Qatar’s action plan to deal with the situation by setting up a committee during this period. “Thecommittee analysed the extra hefty fines and helped businesses to bringback their containers by assisting them in the payment of penaltycharges. As our representative, Qatar Chamber helped everyone each stepof the way.” He added that the opening of Doha port at an apt time andnew shipping routes normalised trading and logistics in the country.Speakingabout international partners, Khan said the Gulf crisis had alsocreated insecurity among the US- and UK-based companies that havebusinesses all over the GCC.Haqeeqat is a joint venture of the GulfTimes and Qatar Media Corp Urdu Radio. The show, hosted bySaif-ur-Rehman, aims to engage and interact with the large South Asianexpatriate community in Qatar. Log on to Qatar Urdu Radio on Facebook and ‘@QatarUrduRadio’ on Twitter for feedback and comments about the show.