Marine transport and logistics conglomerate Qatar Navigation (Milaha) has signed an agreement with the Kandla International Container Terminal (KICT) in India to start the first direct common carrier feeder service between Saudi Arabia and India.
The company said that the new weekly service will connect the Gujarat port of Kandla directly with Jebel Ali in Dubai, and Dammam and Jubail in Saudi Arabia.
The company decided to launch the new service as a large proportion of Dammam’s agricultural produce cargo is exported through the ports in Gujarat.
Named Kandla Dammam Express (KDX), the service will be operated with 2 vessels and will have the following rotation with a 14-day round-trip: Kandla – Jebel Ali – Dammam – Jubail – Jebel Ali – Kandla.
The first vessel call of this service will be M.V Oshairij on February 4, 2017 from Kandla.
“After our successful entry into the Indian market in March 2015 with the launch of the first direct service between Qatar and India, we have been exploring various options to further enhance our presence in the country,” Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai, Milaha’s President and CEO, said.
“We are proud to be part of this historic moment which will certainly bolster trade ties between the Gulf region as a whole and India, as well as further broaden our feeder network within the Gulf and the Indian Subcontinent,” the CEO added.