Qatar's ports begins 2025 on a solid note

Qatar's maritime sector began 2025 on a solid note with Hamad, Doha and Al Ruwais ports witnessing a robust year-on-year growth in ship arrivals, containers, cargoes, vehicles (RORO) and livestock in January, according to the data of Mwani Qatar.

As many as 252 ships had called on Qatar's three ports in January 2025, which was higher by 16.13% year-on-year but was down 3.45% month-on-month.

Hamad Port, whose strategic geographical location offers opportunities to create cargo movement towards the upper Gulf, supporting countries such as Kuwait and Iraq and south towards Oman, saw as many as 155 vessels call (excluding military) on the port in the review period.

The general and bulk cargo handled through the three ports amounted to 142,420 freight tonnes in January 2025, which zoomed 141.22% and 86.95% on yearly and monthly basis respectively.

Hamad Port – whose multi-use terminal is designed to serve the supply chains for the RORO, grains and livestock – handled as much as 88,338 freight tonnes of breakbulk and 30,000 freight tonnes of bulk in January this year.

The container and cargo trends through the ports reflect the positive outlook for the country's non-oil private sector.

In line with the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030, Mwani Qatar continues to implement its ambitious strategy to enhance the maritime sector's contribution to diversifying the national economy and strengthening the county's position as a vibrant regional trade hub.

The three ports were seen handling 58,798 livestock in January 2025, which showed 87.63% and 32.62% surge year-on-year and month-on-month respectively. Hamad Port alone handled as many as 7,000 livestock heads in the review period.

The container movement through three ports amounted to 124,293 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), shooting up 20.24% and 2.26% year-on-year and month-on-month respectively in the review period.

Hamad Port, the largest eco-friendly project in the region and internationally recognised as one of the largest green ports in the world, alone handled 124,320 TEUs of containers handled this January.

The container terminals have been designed to address the increasing trade volume, enhancing ease of doing business as well as supporting the achievement of economic diversification, which is one of the most important goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030.

The three ports handled 12,841 RORO in January 2025, which registered 111.69% growth year-on-year but tanked 23.2% on monthly basis. Hamad Port alone handled 12,823 units in January this year.

Qatar's automobile sector has been witnessing stronger sales, notably in heavy equipment, private motorcycles and private vehicles, according to the data of the National Planning Council.

The building materials traffic through the three ports stood at 31,179 tonnes in January 2025, which plummeted 37.32% on an annualised basis even as it rose 15.23% month-on-month.

Hamad Port reached a significant safety milestone as it achieved 5mn man-hours without lost time incidents (LTI) as of January 10, reflecting the safety and wellbeing of employees.