Qatar Navigation (Milaha), a leader in marine transportation and offshore support services, has signed a one-year feeder agreement with Qatar Chemical and Petrochemical Marketing and Distribution Company (Muntajat), to transport up to 150,000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) of petrochemical exports from Qatar.

The contract was signed during a ceremony attended by Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al Thani, chairman of Milaha’s board of directors, Abdulrahman Essa Al Mannai, president and chief executive officer of Milaha, and members of the executive management of both companies.

The contract, which goes into effect from April 1 and up to March 31, 2017, is an extension of a previous two-year feeder contract between Milaha and Muntajat, said a statement from the company.

Milaha will support Muntajat in the optimisation of vessel sizes to improve operational efficiency and reduce the number of weekly calls required at the port of Mesaieed, it said.

Milaha has also introduced fixed berthing windows in Doha, thereby reducing the possibility of delays at Doha Port and improving schedule reliability for Muntajat at Mesaieed, it added.

Al Thani said: “We are proud of our longstanding partnership with Muntajat. Our strong cooperation, firm commitment, and effective communication have been the key to our successful collaboration with leading Qatari firms for over 30 years.”

“The extension of our feeder partnership with Muntajat is in line with our vision to establish strategic and long-term partnerships with local companies to contribute towards Qatar’s economic growth. Our core operations around Qatar provide optimal flexibility in response to any sudden changes in the business environment,” he added.

Essa Al Mannai said: “Our company will continue to serve Muntajat in the best manner possible. We are confident that our fleet will fully satisfy the requirements of Muntajat in exporting petrochemicals from Qatar to the rest of the world.”

In line with our promise of continuous service enhancements, we will support optimisation with larger vessels, berthing priority in Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, co-loading from CT7, and fixed berth windows in the network to accommodate timely and efficient operation in Mesaieed port,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service