(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Irfan Bukhari / The Peninsula
Playing an excellent role in ensuring smooth flow of essential supplies to the country in face of the siege imposed on Qatar, Mwani and Milaha launched a number of new maritime lines between Hamad Port and different ports of Oman, Kuwait, Turkey, India and Pakistan in the last three months.
Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) in cooperation with its partners inaugurated a number of new direct shipping lines between Hamad port and a number of ports in the region and beyond. The new routes connected Qatar ports to Sohar and Salalah ports in Oman, Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait, Karachi port in Pakistan, Izmir port in Turkey, Mundra and Nava Shiva ports in India. Within a week of three Gulf countries imposing a blockade on Qatar, Mwani Qatar launched a new direct service between Hamad Port and Sohar Port in Oman under Milaha's DMJ service — three times a week.
The first direct service between Hamad Port and Sohar Port in Oman was inaugurated on June 11, 2017. Hansa Neuburg, which is operating under Milaha's DMJ service, was the first ship which called the port under this new service with 1,696 TEUs, including 133 cold storage reefers containing food supplies.
On June 14, the Ministry of Transport and Communications announced launching a new maritime line between Qatar and India named 'India Qatar Express Service (IQX). On June 23, another new line linking Hamad Port directly to Salalah Port was launched.
On the same day, the ship Hansa Magdeburg arrived from India's Nhava Sheva port in a new shipping line connecting Hamad Port with both of India's Mundra port and Nhava Sheva port.
In another development, Mediterranean Shipping Company inaugurated its maiden voyage between Hamad Port and Salalah Port in June and MSC KERRY was the first vessel that called the port.
Maersk also started its first direct service between Hamad Port and Salalah Port on June 30. The ship 'Jack London was the first ship which was welcomed under the new service. Green Guatemala was the first vessel that docked at Hamad Port under the new service between Hamad Port and Turkish ports.
Hamad Port is Qatar's largest access to the sea and its gateway to more than 150 destinations around the world and will provide the country with complete independence in its import and export of goods to various continents.
Last month, Kuwait Qatar Express Service started between Hamad Port and Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait using a 515 TEU vessel. The new service can transport perishable products as 50 reefer plugs are also available on the vessel. The direct transport service between Hamad Port and Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait is weekly and the transit duration is just one day.
In the last week of August, Milaha announced the launch of a direct service between Pakistan and Qatar. The new service, called PQX (Pakistan Qatar Express Service), is operating weekly between the Port of Karachi, Pakistan and Hamad Port, Qatar with a competitive transit time of 4 days, making it the fastest direct connection between the two countries.
The first direct refrigerated container service between Qatar and Turkey was also launched by Milaha last month. The new service is initially being operated with one vessel with a capacity of over 5,000 tonnes per voyage and will cater mainly to temperature-controlled cargo and break-bulk. Under this service, a ship will depart from Turkey once every 20-25 days and the transit time will be 11 days.
In mid-July, Mwani Qatar also signed an agreement with a number of Malaysian shipbuilding companies.
Qatar Ports Management Company handled as many as 583 vessels in June, July 2017 and cleared 111,380 tonnes of general cargo in the same duration. In the first two months of siege, Mwani Qatar also handled around 72,887 standard containers and as many as 135,006 heads of livestock.
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