DOHA: Showing a robust half-yearly performance, Hamad Port received 803 ships in the first six months of the current year. It was performance driven time for the $7.4bn port as it achieved many significant milestones during the first six months of the year.

The port handled 644,824 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) containers in January-June period while handled 631,076 break-bulk cargo in the same period.  It handled 132,325 bulk cargo; 341,793 heads of cattle and 32,084 units of vehicles in the first six months of the current year.

The Port, one of the largest ports in the region, handled 137 vessels in June this year while 131 ships in May, said Qterminals in a tweet. Qterminals was set up by Qatar Navigation (Milaha) and Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) to manage the port.

In May, the port handled the vessel Rhea Leader which was carrying the locomotives and wagons for the Doha Metro Project. In total, eight locomotives were discharged successfully by Hamad Port team.

The port, which has seen tremendous growth in a short duration, is further cementing Qatar’s position as a regional maritime hub.

Hamad Port achieved an important milestone in April as it received the highest number of vessels during the months. A total of 148 commercial vessels called at Hamad Port which was the highest monthly number ever recorded since the start of operations at the port. Additionally, QTerminals handled a record-breaking 122,825 TEUs containers in April which was a 17 percent increase over the previous month.

The port accomplished another feat in early this year as it celebrated, in March, handling of its first one million TEUs containers. The Port, which was opened in December 2016, achieved this feat in less 14 months which was well ahead of its expected schedule. It plans to achieve the next one million container throughput by the end of this year.

Hamad Port successfully overcame all the challenges posed by the unjust siege imposed by the blockading countries on Qatar as the number of vessels calling at the port and volume of goods has been grown consistently since start of its operation.  It received 120 commercial vessels in February and handled 55,862 tonnes of bulk cargo compared to 9,890 tonnes of bulk cargo in January, showing a whopping rise of 465 percent, compared to January. January was remarkable month for Hamad port as it received a total of 182 vessels during the month.

Hamad port is capable of handling 5,000 vessels per year and has a general cargo terminal that can handle 1.7 million tonnes of general goods per year.