Qatar container shipping has been gradually recovering from last week’s disruption caused by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries closing their ports to all vessels traveling in and out of Qatari ports. This resulted in the suspension of container services with Qatar by many shipping lines, such as Maersk Line, MOL, COSCO, Evergreen, OOCL. According to Qatari importers, thousands of containers destined for the country are stuck at UAE’s port of Jebel Ali.
But on Monday, 12th June, Maersk Line announced its Qatar coverage plan, whereby the port of Doha will be served by the company’s own feeder from the Omani port of Salalah managed by Maersk’s APM Terminals. Maersk Line has re-opened acceptance of cargo to/from Qatar for all countries except UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen, in compliance with the government guidelines. The shipping line notifies its customers that the first sailing from Salalah will be on 19th June 2017 with arrival to Doha on 25th June 2017. The frequency of the service is every 10 days.
Swiss-based MSC also said it would deploy a new dedicated shipping service to Qatar from Salalah port.
Qatar Ports Management launched on Sunday two direct shipping services linking Qatar’s new Hamad Port with the Omani ports of Sohar in the north and Salalah in the south. Both services will operate three times a week to ensure smooth business operations at the ports and to restore shipping routes to Qatar.