Experts discuss Maritime logistics issues

The Silk Road Exhibition & One Belt, One Road Conference, in its second day,  discussed a number of issues such as maritime logistics, and security and safety in supply chain and logistics.
The first session, titled Maritime Logistics’ was headed by Dr. Sheikh Thani bin Ali bin Saoud Al Thani member of the Board of International Relations, Qatar International Center for Documentation and Arbitration. 
Speaking at the session, Captain Dr. Abdul Amir Al Faraj - who is Arbitrator at Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry - said that there is a big difference between the services and facilities provided by the sea ports. 
The difference is that when we say services, it means the necessary services that must be provided by the sea ports such as navigation service, container discharge and other services while the non-mandatory facilities means the complementary things which are not obligatory.  
Al Faraj in his presentation titled “Logistics Practices in Sea Ports” added that the goods in the ports are going through 14 stages and many things must be taken into account like the type of ships entering the port in terms of volume as well as containers.
He also mentioned that Hamad Port uses advanced services which help investors and support the economy.
However, the port may see conflicts among concerned parties in case of damage to goods, loss of goods, death of people or any mishaps, he said.
The important question is who will look at these disputes, when they occur, if local laws cannot solve such disputes and the judge cannot adjudicate them, as this is not within his specialisation, Al Faraj said adding that many conflicts occur in ports due to many reasons such as delays in entry of ships to port, or damage to some goods, and such issues should be resolved only by the competent authorities.
The smart shipping or multimodal transport is the core of the port logistics system because it is linked to international transport and global trade, he said.
For her part, Dr. Mona Hussein Al Marzouqi, Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at Faculty of Law of Qatar University said in her presentation about the responsibility of the transport station operator that there are no special legislative provisions in the Qatari Maritime Law No. 15 of 1980. The responsibility is subject to the general rules in the Civil Code.
Al Marzouqi also questioned whether the Qatari laws were sufficient to protect the operator of the transport station or not, adding that it is not enough. 
There are some international attempts to regulate the responsibility of the operator of the transport station, such as United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea.
Al Marzouqi gave some recommendations asking Qatar to ratify the 1991 Vienna Convention. The convention is ratified by four countries. “It needs ratification from only one country and we hope it will be Qatar,” she said.
Dr. Nader Mohamed Ibrahim, PhD in International Commercial Arbitration, said that many issues should be discussed. Business competition, cost pressure, time and customer satisfaction, principle of specialization are some of the issues which need more clarity.
The Silk Road Exhibition & One Belt, One Road Conference will concluded today and attracted many government, semi-governmental and private sectors companies working in the field of transport, shipping and logistics whom met  under one roof and exchange experiences in the mentioned fields. 
The event is being organized by Ministry of Transport and Communications which  committed to provide safe, effective and environment-friendly transport system and develop the ICT sector in a way that supports the Qatar economic growth, quality of life and long-term suitability to meet the national development requirements.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Transport and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti.