Cargo handling at Qatar ports witnessed a significant surge in the month of December.

Qatar ports have witnessed a whopping 86% growth in cargo handling in December 2022 compared to last year, authorities have announced. 

“Mwani Qatar ports (Hamad Port, Doha Port, Ruwais Port) handled over 140,000 tonnes of cargo in December 2022, registering a YoY growth of 86%. Livestock increased by 98% and vessels by 5%, compared to December 2021,” the Mwani Qatar said in a tweet.

In December 2022, 267 ships docked at Qatari ports, handling 128,688 containers, 140,601 tonnes of general cargo, 45,985 tonnes of building materials, 6,263 vehicles, and 38,867 heads of livestock.

Meanwhile, 148 ships made port calls at Hamad Port last month, according to QTerminlas, the terminal operating company of Hamad Port.

In December 2022, Hamad Port handled 127,770 containers, 55,125 tonnes of bulk cargo, 74,517 tonnes of general cargo, 6,224 vehicles, and 1,317 heads of livestock.

1,408,804 containers, 520,324 tonnes of bulk cargo, 983,033 tonnes of general cargo, 78,588 vehicles, and 45,808 heads of livestock were also handled by Hamad Port in 2022, while 1,569 vessels made port calls there in the previous year.

The country has also worked hard to ensure reliable supply chains.

According to data recently shared by Mwani Qatar, Hamad Port handled 123,206 containers, 94,128 tonnes of general cargo, 6,684 vehicles, and 10,000 heads of livestock from November 18 to December 18, 2022.

Around 146 vessels have also docked in the port during the same period.

Data from earlier years indicated that Hamad Port had a busy year in 2021, with container handling up over 9% from the previous year.

In addition to handling 1,543,591 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) containers, the port also handled 267,284 freight tonnes of bulk cargo, 1,303,514 freight tonnes of general cargo, 72,223 vehicles, and 45,594 heads of livestock in 2021.

The port saw a rise in the number of vessels arriving; in 2021, 1,750 vessels arrived at Hamad Port, up from 1,600 in 2020.

Despite the rising numbers, the port is still set to expand. Upon completion of the development phases, Hamad Port’s three terminals will be able to handle 7.5 million TEUs.

The container terminals at Hamad Port were created to make it easier to increase the capacity for handling containers and to handle the increase in cargo traffic.