Doha’s new port

With the economic boom currently taking place in Doha, Doha Port is grappling with all the traffic it is experiencing. The need for a new port is urgent and since it’s on its way, it will be a welcome relief once it’s ready.

“Doha Port is very, very small for the very quick development happening in Qatar since His Highness the Emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani took over,” admits Capt. Ahmed Yousef Al Mas, Marine Expert for Qatar’s Customs & Ports General Authority (CPGA).

Located in Doha, the port has a navigation channel of 17 kilometres, and is 160 metres wide and 11 metres deep. Facilities, which include nine general cargo berths, two container terminals and a flour mill, are known to be congested.

But a new port, located north of Mesaieed Port (also known as Umm Sai’d) and Mesaieed Industrial City, and south of Al Wakra City, is on the way, says Al Mas. “That area will be an economic zone, and the port will be at the heart of that economic zone,” he adds.

The new port will boast a navigation channel 500 metres wide, 17 metres deep and 30 kilometres long, “to accommodate the bigger ships,” says Al Mas.

CPGA, however, is yet to come up with an official plan. “We are preparing to make a tender for the engineering, design, and programme management very soon,” he says. “The port could be privately operated, or it could be run by the CPGA itself. This is not finalised yet.”

Al Mas says the first stage of the port should be finished in five years, and the second stage, by 2025. The total US$6 billion investment is expected to allow for a capacity of six million TEUs per year.

After that, he says the port will have plenty of room to expand. “There is no restriction to any expansion in the future.”