Doha – Mubasher: Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) announced launching the first ocean alliance direct service to Hamad Port.
With a 350-container vessel fleet and a total carrying capacity of 3.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the newly established ocean alliance is the largest international container shipping alliance.
CMA CGM Uruguay container ship, the first vessel to sail on the new service arrived on 2 May at Qatar’s Hamad Port, Mwani said in a statement released on its official website on Tuesday.
The new service will strengthen Qatar's foreign trade, volume of container handling, and reduce handling time. Moreover, Ocean Alliance will offer “40 services on the East-West trades with approximately 100 ports of call and almost 500 port pairs,” according to the statement.
This will be useful for customers in terms of the abundant options for sailing schedules and direct port pairs.
“The new line which comes in less than three months of the start of the first direct service between Hamad Port and Shanghai in China under MSC's New Falcon Service will provide best transit times and reduce the time necessary for goods from 30 to 14 days,” said Mwani Qatar CEO Abdulla Al Khanji.
The new line will support Hamad Port's transshipment abilities and help in achieving the goals that will transform Qatar into a regional trading hub, whilst boosting the country's revenues from the non-oil sector and contributing to the achievement of the Qatar Vision 2030.
"[Mwani Qatar] constantly strive[s] to develop and improve services in a way that supports our competitiveness and our presence as a regional and international leading integrated port and logistics services provider," Al Khanji stressed.
The 14,000 TEU-containership MSC Esthi was the first vessel of such size to visit the Qatari Hamad Port. It sailed into the port on 1 December 2016, marking the port’s official opening.
Around 19 of Ocean Alliance’s containerships are expected to arrive at Hamad Port over the next few months, the statement added.
