Milaha, one of the leading maritime and logistics conglomerates, has announced that its Container Shipping business has more than doubled within a short span of time.
The remarkable growth achieved, both in terms of the number of vessels as well as the volume of containers handled, got accelerated over the last couple of years, especially after the blockade imposed on Qatar by the Arab quartet, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which were previously the two major destinations from Qatari imports.
“Given the rising demand for our services, we have been increasing our fleet steadily with the total number of vessels increasing over 100 units which are operating across multiple sectors.
Out of that, some 15 ships are dedicated to container shipping service, which has more than doubled compared to seven vessels used for the same purpose just about 2-3 years ago,” Abdulrahman Al Mannai, President and CEO of Milaha said recently.
Al Mannai added: “With the opening of the new port (Hamad Port), we are also using bigger vessels for container shipping as the scale of our operations has expanded significantly.” He noted that over the last one year and a-half, Milaha has opened many new shipping lines serving a lot of new markets.
The company has also introduced feeder line services in many regions, including one between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which are not directly related to Qatar business but an expansion of its operations that serve the Middle East and many other regions.
“It has been a steady growth for us. We are also studying some destinations and looking for opportunities to open new shipping lines and other services,” he said.
Milaha, as an integrated maritime and logistics conglomerate, with a wide-chain of operations facilities, is well positioned to provide high quality services to the fast growing market.
“As there is more requirement and surge in the demand for our services, we are working to provide more customised solutions by deploying new technology and upgrading the exiting services,” he said.
In early May this year, Milaha also launched a direct Container Feeder service between Hamad Port and Iraq’s Umm Qasr Port. The new service was an expansion of the existing Qatar-Kuwait service that the company had launched last year.
In addition, in early July last year, Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) in cooperation with its partners, including Milaha, inaugurated five new direct service lines between Hamad Port and a number of ports in the region and beyond, including India’s Mundra Port and Nhava Sheva Port within days after the inauguration of the world-class port.
Source :- Dailyshippingtimes.com
