Doha: Qatar’s maritime sector has delivered strong performance in the first quarter of this year. Hamad Port, Ruwais Port, and Doha Port have registered all-round growth in cargo and passenger traffic during January-March quarter of 2019, showing the robustness of Qatar’s maritime sector.
The ports handled 110,938 tonnes of building materials during the first quarter, reflecting 37 percent growth, compared to the same quarter last year.
The ports received 321,345 containers during the first quarter of 2019, registering 3 percent increase over the same period of 2018. The number of cruise passengers also surged as Doha Port witnessed the arrival of 89,188 passengers during the quarter, showing a massive growth of 99 percent compared to the first quarter of last year.
The ports handled 17,141 units of vehicles while 227,554 tonnes of general cargo during the first quarter. The ports handled 235,053 livestock during the quarter. A total of 958 ships called at these ports during the first quarter of 2019.
Along with quarterly numbers, these ports also showed strong performance during the month of April, 2019. A total of 110,209 livestock were handled during April this year, compared to 62,053 livestock in March, registering 78 percent monthly growth. The ports handled 6084 units of vehicles during the month, compared to 5,949 units in March, registering around 2 percent monthly rise. Total 279 ports called at docked at Qatari ports during April this year.
Qatar’s port sector has delivered an impressive performance last year with all-round growth in all the segments. The ports achieved highest annual performance in containers, vessels and livestock segments in 2018. The ports received 4,781 vessels and handled 1.34 million TEU containers during the year.
The ports also handled 1.4 million tonnes of general cargo; 71,173 vehicles; 324,248 tonnes of building materials and 957,487 heads of livestock in 2018.
Hamad Port, the largest port in the Middle East, led from the front in boosting Qatar maritime sector as it occupied the lion’s share in the overall port traffic.
According to Qterminals, Hamad Port handled around 1.33 million TEU containers, over 1 million tonnes of break bulk cargo, over 255,000 of bulk cargo, over 68,000 vehicles and over 400,000 heads of livestock during January to December in 2018. A total of 1,592 vessels called at Hamad Port, last year.
Qterminals was set up by Qatar Navigation (Milaha) and Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) to manage the port.
