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Santhosh Chandran
Doha
The opening of the new Hamad Port away from the hustle-bustle of Doha city has come as a boon for major shipping companies for their daily operations in Qatar.
The relocation of the container terminal operations to the state-of-the-art new port has made business easier and kept most of the heavy vehicles away from Doha city reducing traffic congestion.
According to sources at shipping firms, the relocation of the seaport operations has enabled them to save additional costs and time owing to traffic restrictions in the city areas. They have managed to save at least nine hours of transportation cost, sources added.
Vijaya Kumaran, manager of Ecu Line Doha, said,"Earlier, when the port was inside Doha, we often used to lose around nine hours in transportation of goods as there were severe restrictions on movements of heavy vehicles in the Doha city."
"Even in the past when the port operations were located in Doha, the movement of heavy vehicles was 'banned' inside the city roads from 6am to 8am, 12am to 2pm and 5pm to 10pm. With these restrictions in place, we usually lost a total of nine hours when it came to dealing with our transportation operations at the city port. But now, even as such restrictions continue to remain in Doha, it does not affect our work any more as delivery of goods into the Doha city is below one percent of our import and export operations."
The large warehouses located in Industrial Area and the construction sites situated outside of Doha city are the major delivery points for such heavy vehicles. Now, these heavy vehicles can access any part of the country without interrupting traffic in the capital city.
Moreover, the New Orbital Truck Road which connects Mesaieed, Al Khor, Dukhan and Al Shamal Expressway to the North has been a huge operational relief for the movement of heavy vehicles.
Abdul Aniz, a truck operator, said:"We are happy that we don't have to drive through the congested traffic of the Doha city anymore, and can add more efficiency to our work."
Hakkim Abdul Ayaz, a manager at X'Zig Logistics, said:"Saving nine out of 24 hours is an enormous relief. It has improved our business opportunities."
Director of Arabital Shipping in Doha Mohamed Rafi said the new seaport will be an additional boost for international trade as it helps increase container movement in this region, benefiting traders and other stakeholders in several sectors.
Qatar Port Management Company had shifted its vessel operations to the new Hamad Port last November. Strategically located in south of Qatar, the Hamad Port is part of the QR27 billion mega project, which includes a new port and the Qatar Economic Zone 3 area, among other infrastructural facilities.
