Doha: Qatar’s share in overall Middle East trade is expected to significantly increase with the robust technological infrastructure supporting Hamad Port’s second container terminal (CT2), Mwani said in its recent report.
The first and second phases of CT2 were officially opened recently. The Mwani Annual Report 2021 further reveals the company’s ports achieved a container throughput of 1.57 million TEUs, 9% higher than the 1.44 million TEUs moved in 2020, with an increasing of 36% in the transshipments to reach 5,62,539 TEUs in the end of 2021.
“2021 was marked by the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the maritime industry, albeit less severely than initially anticipated in 2020. Despite challenges due to supply chain interruptions, Mwani Qatar continued to play its role in overcoming all obstacles to local supply chains and ensuring the smooth flow of goods and materials to local markets through its ports, thus contributing to securing the necessary needs for existing and ongoing projects in various state sectors,” Mwani Annual Report 2021 said.
The general cargo handled through ports stood at 1.63mn tonnes during 2021, up from 1.5 million tonnes in 2020, an increase of around 8.7%. Building materials traffic was also robust with the ports moving 592,452 tonnes, a stunning 66 % more than the 357,000 tonnes recorded in 2020. The ports received 3,355 ships during 2021, a rise of 1.36% over 2020 as well as 332,761 head of livestock and 73,039 vehicles (RORO) which registered a 19.34% increase year-on-year.
2021 marked the first year of operations for Hamad Port CT2 which was very promising. The opening of phases 1 and 2 of CT2 increases the port’s total TEU capacity to three million per year.
“Qatar’s maritime sector is expected to witness another year of strong growth in light of the efforts taken by the concerned authorities to boost goods traffic at the ports, with expectations of supply chains improving during the next few period,” it adds.
Hamad Port, wrapped up yet another successful year by setting new volume and productivity benchmarks in 2021. The port received 1750 vessels and handled 1.52 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) containers, 1.57 million tonnes general cargo, 45,594 livestock heads, and 72,223 units of vehicles during the year.
Hamad Port has led from the front in boosting Qatar maritime sector as it occupied the lion’s share in the overall port traffic. In another remarkable development, Hamad Port in 2021 became the first 5G-enabled seaport in the Middle East, after the completion of the 5G roll-out for Phase 1 at the port’s Container Terminal 2 by Ooredoo.
The year 2021 was another successful year for Ruwais Port. Besides the usual handling of general cargoes, the port had to cope with the increased demand of foodstuff and other commodities. The port handled 1605 vessels including general cargo vessels, dhows and landing crafts, in addition to 284,289 head of livestock, with a growth of more than 50% compared to the year 2020, the report reveals.
The general cargo handled by Ruwais Port the last year increased by 20% to reach 63,770 tonnes by the end of December. This is in addition to the significant rise in the volume of construction materials handled, which exceeded 51% to reach 538,713 tonnes.
