A strong double-digit year-on-year (y-o-y) expansion in building materials and vehicle throughput, coupled with modest growth in general cargo and container handling, kept Qatar's Hamad, Doha and Al Ruwais ports busy during 2021, according to Mwani Qatar.
The positive yearly growth in the vital parameters of the country's port sector, including the number of ships arriving, comes amidst threat posed by the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The general cargo handled through three ports stood at 1.63mn tonnes during 2021, which registered an 8.71% surge year-on-year. Hamad Port – whose multi-use terminal is designed to serve the supply chains for the RORO, grains and livestock –handled 1.3mn freight tonnes of break bulk and 267,284 freight tonnes of bulk during 2021.
In the last month of 2021, the general cargo through the three ports however registered a huge 67.26% plunge month-on-month to 75,576 tonnes in December 2021. Hamad Port witnessed 71,790 freight tonnes of break bulk in the review period.
As many as 3,355 ships had called on Qatar's three ports during 2021, which showed a marginal rise of 1.36% over 2020. Hamad Port alone saw 1,750 ships call during 2021.
The number of ships calling on Qatar's three ports stood at 255 in December 2021, which fell 10.84% on a monthly basis. Hamad Port saw as many as 122 ship arrivals.
Hamad Port’s strategic geographical location offers opportunities to create cargo movement towards the upper Gulf, supporting countries such as Kuwait and Iraq and south towards Oman.
Qatar Chamber recently said the country's foreign trade and private sector’s exports have been showing promising results, indicating that the Qatari economy has witnessed a remarkable recovery from the negative impacts of Covid-19 pandemic.
The container handling through the three ports stood at 1.57mn TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) during 2021, registering an 8.66% growth year-on-year. 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, alone saw 1.54mn TEUs of containers handling during 2021.
In December 2021, the ports handled 131,338 TEUs, which was down 11.69% month-on-month. Hamad Port handled 130,546 TEUs in December 2021.
Building materials handled amounted to 592,452 tonnes during 2021, showing a stupendous 65.72% jump on a yearly basis. In December 2021 alone, the building materials handled by these ports witnessed a 46.03% surge month-on-month to 61,747 tonnes.
The rebound of business activities, especially in the construction sector; rather corroborates the rising trends in the movement of building materials through the ports.
The three ports had handled 73,039 vehicles (RORO) during 2021, which registered a 19.34% increase year-on-year. In December 2021, there was a sharp 87.85% expansion in vehicles handled to 6,663 units. Hamad Port alone handled 72,223 units during 2021.
The three ports were seen handling 332,761 livestock during 2021, which declined 26.57% on a yearly basis. Hamad Port alone handled 45.594 livestock during 2021.
In December 2021, the livestock handling by the three ports had plummeted 61.29% to 19,593 heads. Hamad Port alone saw 3,883 livestock handling in the review period.