Qatar’s new Hamad Port will officially launch in the first week of September, the country’s transport ministry has announced.

The Emir will inaugurate the facility, which has been crucial in helping Qatar circumvent the ongoing Gulf blockade this summer.

Since June, the port has been expanding shipping routes to India, Oman, Turkey and Pakistan to help Qatar bring in more food, construction materials and other items.

Under the auspices of HH the Emir, #HamadPort is scheduled to be officially inaugurated in this September pic.twitter.com/AP1teuxPHy

— وزارة المواصلات (@MOTQatar) August 26, 2017

Expansion

One of the largest ports in the region, the QR27 billion Hamad Port became fully operational some 10 months ago.

It is already in the process of expanding, and is slated to have three terminals with enough capacity to handle 7.5 million containers a year by 2020.

That’s nearly quadruple its current capacity of 2 million containers.

Last month, Hamad Port handled nearly 49,000 containers, some 80,000 tons of general cargo, almost 5,000 vehicles and machinery, 74,000 heads of livestock and some 8,000 tons of building materials, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said.

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