Qatar witnessed an 11% month-on-month increase in transshipment containers in February 2022, hinting at the country's strengthening prospects of becoming a regional maritime hub, according to the figures of Mwani Qatar.
The increase in transshipment in April 2021 comes amidst the government's plan to transform Qatar into a vibrant regional trading hub in the region, given its geographical proximity with the continents and attractive regulatory, legal environment as well as robust infrastructure.
The container handling through the country's Hamad, Doha and Al Ruwais ports stood at 113,957 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), which however declined 3.57% and 16.14% month-on-month and year-on-year respectively in February 2022. The container handling stood at 232,130 TEUs in the first two months of this year.
The 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 112,017 TEUs of containers handled in February 2022.
The number of ships calling on Qatar's three ports stood at 213 in February 2022, which was 6.58% and 5.33% lower on both monthly and yearly basis respectively. As many as 441 ships had called on the ports during January-February this year.
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.
The general cargo handled through the three ports stood at 125,341 tonnes in February 2022, which showed a 37.87% and 10.46% decline month-on-month and year-on-year respectively.
Hamad Port – whose multi-use terminal is designed to serve the supply chains for the RORO, grains and livestock – alone handled 111,136 freight tonnes of break-bulk and 10,000 freight tonnes of bulk in February this year.
On a cumulative basis, the general cargo movement through the three ports totalled 327,092 tonnes in the first two months of this year.
The building materials handled amounted to 46,635 tonnes in February this year, which shrank 7.3% and 51.57% respectively on monthly and yearly basis respectively in the review period. A total of 50,306 tonnes of building materials had been handled by these three ports during January-February 2022.
The three ports had handled 16,900 livestock in February, which plunged 45.79% and 15.5% on monthly and yearly basis respectively. Together they handled 48,076 heads during January-February this year.
The three ports handled 4,992 vehicles (RORO) in February 2022, which was down 12.93% and 15.39% month-on-month and year-on-year respectively. They together handled 10,725 vehicles in January-February this year. Hamad Port alone handled 4,917 units in February this year.