Nakilat Damen Shipyards deliver five workhorses for Hamad Port

With a top speed of 25 knots, the two Damen Stan Pilot 1505 pilot boats, Um Alhoul 1 and Um Alhoul 2, will be used to carry out pilot duties and transport personnel around the $7.5bn port. They are twin 15.4 LOA x 5 m beam vessels.

The three Damen Stan Tug 1606 mooring boats, Mwani 1, Mwani 2 and Mwani 3, have a bollard pull capacity of 13.7 tonnes. The 16.7 LOA by 5.9 m beam vessels will be deployed to assist ships entering and departing the port near Doha.

NDSQ built the five vessels at its Erhama Bin Jaber Al Jalahma Shipyard in Ras Laffan Industrial City and delivered them recently to Hamad under its ‘New Port Project’ (NPP) moniker following successful sea trials. 

Captain Abdulla Al-Khanji, ceo of Qatar’s ports authority Mwani and NNP general supervisor described the delivery of the vessels as an “important milestone” in the on-going development of Hamad Port which is already running at about one third capacity and to be officially opened in December.

Rapidly growing on a 28sq km site south of Doha, Hamad is poised to transform Qatari shipping once it is complete in 2020. It will eventually be home to three highly automated container terminals, each boasting 2m teu capacity and at least eight super post-panamax gantry cranes. There will also be ro-ro, livestock, general cargo and bulk terminals as well as an offshore supply terminal and Qatari Emiri Naval Forces and Coastguard bases.

“Hamad Port is being developed as a world-class facility as befits the State of Qatar and the completion of these marine units represent the culmination of a successful collaboration between NPP and NDSQ,” said Al-Khanji.  

“To have vessels of such outstanding quality manufactured in Qatar, for use in Hamad Port, is testament to the professionalism of all those involved.”

NDSQ is a joint venture between Nakilat, the shipping arm of Qatar’s LNG industry, and Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards. It builds vessels in steel, aluminium and glass reinforced plastic (GRP) boats up to 170m and also offers repair and refit services.

“The cooperation between Nakilat and NPP is an excellent example of how local organisations are working together to support the development and growth of our local economy, that will in turn contribute to the achievements of Qatar National vision 2030,” said Nakilat md, Engineer Abdullah Al-Sulaiti.