Milaha Connects Qatar, Iraq with Feeder Service

Qatar-based maritime and logistics company Milaha has launched a direct container feeder service between Qatar and Iraq.

The new service, which will be an expansion of the existing Qatar-Kuwait service that the company launched last year, will follow a Hamad Port-Umm Qasr (Iraq)-Shuwaikh (Kuwait)-Hamad Port rotation.

It will initially be served by one vessel with a 1,015 TEU capacity and 110 reefer plugs.

The service will have a transit time of 2 days, making it ideal for dry and refrigerated food stuff, consumer electronics, and construction materials, among other cargo, according to the company. The first vessel will depart from Hamad Port on May 7, 2018 and reach Umm Qasr Port on May 9, 2018.

“This new service will contribute to the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, and will also help boost the growing trade and economic relations between Qatar and Iraq,” Milaha’s President and CEO Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai said.

Since last year, the company has expanded into several new shipping routes and currently calls 2 ports in Oman, 3 ports in India, one port each in Kuwait, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, offering enhanced connectivity and transit times to Qatar and the region.

Milaha earlier informed that it delivered a net profit of QAR 260 million in the first quarter of 2018, up from QAR 236 million posted in the same period a year earlier.

The company’s operating revenues were up year-on-year as well standing at QAR 698 million in the first quarter of this year against last year’s equivalent of QAR 648 million.