Qatar's Hamad Port -- It's Strategic Role and Recent Recognitions

A Hero in Qatar's Successful Resistance to the Blockade

On June 5, 2017, four neighboring countries --  Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt -- imposed a blockade of land, sea, and air routes to and from Qatar.  In my book chapter, on Qatar's strategic and successful responses to the blockade, I discussed the role of the Hamad Port.  See Paula Marie Young, The Siege of Qatar:  Creating a BATNA that Strengthened the Tiny Country’s Negotiating Power, QATAR: POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ISSUES (Nova Science Pubs. 2019). In that chapter, I said:

Access to alternative ports played a bigger role in Qatari planning. Its new Hamad Port, the largest port in the Middle East, opened for what appears to be a soft-launch in December 2016, with an accelerated opening of other facilities at the port shortly after the siege began. Qatar made a QR 27 billion ($7.3 billion) investment in the site. Port officials reported an intent to expand its capacity through 2020, creating three container terminals and yearly capacity of six million containers. The general cargo terminal would have an annual capacity of 1.7 tons of general goods; up to 1 million tons of food grains; and 500,000 vehicles. From July 2017 to September 2017, it had received 48,873 containers, 80,275 tons of general cargo, 4,922 vehicles and machinery, 74,148 heads of livestock, and 7,897 tons of building materials, thereby making it an important factor in Qatar’s ability to break the blockade. Before the launch of this deep-water port, the large container ships could not dock in Qatar’s old port. Thus, they offloaded goods to smaller “feeder boats” at various ports in UAE, including Jebel Ali and Fujairah ports. The Hamad port made Qatar substantially independent of the ports in UAE. Qatari officials also quickly solved the bunkering, or ship refueling, problem. Ports in UAE traditionally provided this service. By June 25, 2017, only 20 days after the siege started, Qatar offered bunkering service at its Ras Laffan anchorage for vessels exporting or importing Qatari goods.

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Qatar got lucky on this one. The blockade could have affected sea-based imports and exports if the new Hamad Port had not been operating. It can handle the largest container ships in the world and provide feeder, or transshipment services, previously performed by ports in the UAE. But, it was operating, and many Qataris would praise the “Father Emir” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani for that bit of foresight, planning, and investment.

More Recent Port News

In the last two years, port news included its international recognition, growth,  expansion plans, and non-cargo ship arrivals.

International Recognition

Qataris learned that the Hamad Port gained international recognition for its innovative operations and massive size. At an event in December 2018, the shipping industry recognized the port's management team as among the top 8 international companies for its "high levels of efficiency and the overall performance achieved in a record period, in addition to its important role in promoting innovative and environment-friendly technology in ports sector by adopting initiatives that contribute to enabling and delivering sustainable smart infrastructure solutions."

In September 2019, Qatari officials announced that the port captured the Guinness World record for the largest man-made basin on Earth.

Hamad Port's basin is 4km long, 700 meters wide and 17 meters deep. Basin construction took about two and a half years of excavation, during which over 6,900 tons of explosives were used to challenge the drafts - with full commitment to preserving wildlife and marine life - to extract more than 44.5 million cubic meters of dredged material, which was later used in other construction works at the project, resulting in huge savings.

The port also received "high commendation in the Coastal Dredging Project of the year category at the inaugural IHS DPC Innovation Awards."

Growth

In March 2018, port managers set an ambitious goal of capturing 35 percent of Mideast trade volume over the next two years.  By October 2018, Qatar's Minister of Transport announced the port had captured 28 percent of that market. He noted that the port "connects more than 40 ports, spanning three continents, with over 24 shipping services."  The Minister of Transport also said that the port allowed Qatar to export products to 130 countries.

In January 2018, the port marked a milestone by handling 182 vessels that month.   From January to September  2019, the port handled over 1 million containers, reflecting a two percent growth over the volume handled in the same period in 2018. During September 2019, 371 vessels docked at the port. By the end of August 2019, it had handled 3 million containers.  Since its opening, the port has also handled 7 million tons of general cargo.  Qatar has used 95-96 percent of the entering cargo to complete infrastructure projects, including stadiums, roads, mass transit, and other projects.

Expansion

In June 2019, port managers announced that development of Phase II of the port had already started and they expected the second container terminal to begin accepting vessels in 2020.

Non-cargo Ship Arrivals

In addition, local papers reported the arrival of warships from a number of countries, including the US, India, Pakistan, and France.  The first "mega" cruise ship, with the capacity of 3,700 passengers, also stopped at the port.

As noted in my book chapter, the Hamad Port played an important role in making Qatar largely immune to the economic effects of the sanctions imposed by its neighboring countries.  It continues to play a vital role in the economic, national security, and strategic planning of the country.