Despite challenges caused by COVID-19 outbreak, the ports in Qatar have delivered robust performance which shows their strength and resilience. While global maritime industry is struggling due to the outbreak of pandemic, Qatar’s ports have witnessed rise in traffic handling in March.
The ports have recorded 53 percent growth in general cargo volumes last month, compared to February this year. Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port handled 112,730 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) containers; 131,472 tonnes general cargo; 59,601 livestock heads; 41,554 tonnes building materials and 6,088 units of vehicles during last month.
A total of 225 ships docked at these ports in March. Preventive measures taken by Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) have played crucial role in smooth functioning of ports in these challenging times.
Mwani Qatar, in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health and relevant authorities, has implemented series of measures to limit the spread of coronavirus in the ports which will not only keep the workforce safe, but will also ensure uninterrupted supply of goods in the country.
The measures include sanitisation of containers, installing thermal cameras, submission of COVID-19 disclosures and making workforce at the port aware about how to limit spread of the virus.
These ports started the new year on a positive note. Hamad Port, Doha Port and Ruwais Port have witnessed significant rise in cargo handling in the first month of this year. These ports handled over 50 percent more vehicles in January this year compared to same month in 2019.
Ports positive performance in January came after a successful year. Qatar’s maritime sector set new volume and productivity benchmarks in 2019. Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port received 4,082 vessels and handled 1.34 million TEUs containers during the year.
Qatar’s maritime sector is expected to witness another year of strong growth as various steps have been taken by the concerned authorities to boost goods traffic at the ports. One of the major steps include expansions of Hamad Port.
The development works of Phase II of the Hamad Port, which consist of second container terminal (CT-2), has already begun. As part of the development of CT-2, QTerminals had announced in December last year that it had placed an order for 24 Terminal Trailers. Hamad Port, one of the largest ports in the Middle East, has led from the front in boosting Qatar maritime sector and it occupies the lion’s share in the overall port traffic. The proactive policies implemented by the government to strengthen country’s maritime infrastructure have enabled ports to overcome any challenging situation.
