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Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, the Qatar Maritime and Logistics Summit officially inaugurated today at the Sheraton Grand Doha Resort and Convention Hotel in the presence of HE Mr. Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti, Minister of Transport and Communications and number of Their Excellencies, Ministers, Ambassadors and VIPs.

The summit, which is hosted by the Ministry of Transport and Communications over two-days, and organized jointly between Mwani Qatar as a strategic partner and Lloyds List brings together more than 450 experts, decision makers and specialists in the fields of ports, maritime and logistics sectors as well as representatives and members of international organizations such as the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS).

In his opening speech, His Excellency Mr. Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport and Communications said: “The State of Qatar has worked to develop laws and legislations in the field of transport, and has invested widely under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar to develop infrastructure projects for the transport sector and its support services in order to keep pace with the changes and developments that are progressing, and to be a true legacy for future generations, thus achieving QNV 2030 goals”.

 His Excellency added that these investments have achieved a remarkable development for the maritime transport sector at all levels and contributed to placing Qatar with a leading position and a distinguished reputation on the map of the global maritime sector. He pointed out that Qatar has ranked 12th globally in the quality of port infrastructure in the World Bank's Competitiveness Report 2019, and it has jumped 4 places in the efficiency of seaport services index to become 15th globally.

In terms of efficient logistics services, Qatar has ranked second in the Arab world and 30 globally, and its ranking rose from 26 to 9 globally in the  international shipments index in just two years, which reflects the significant growth in the volume of Qatar’s international freight thanks to the advanced capabilities of Hamad Port and its important role in securing stable and sustainable supply chains that provide customers with integrated and competitive services.

Hamad Port’s advanced infrastructure and modern technologies contributed to attracting international shipping companies and played an important role in smoothing handling operations, providing more comprehensive services and more solutions that allow customers to achieve maximum benefit in an ideal competitive environment for business, His Excellency the Minister explained.

Moreover, these differential advantages and close relations that were built with global partners have strengthened Qatar's commercial share and contributed to transform Hamad Port into a regional transshipment hub with annual transshipment growth of 30% in 2019. To enhance this growth in the coming years, agreements have been signed with the major shipping companies in the world, He added.

The Qatar Maritime and Logistics Summit focuses on industry-wide, long-term challenges and opportunities as well as a number of important topics such as trade, global trends, port development, financing, technology, digital security, cybersecurity, safety, security and sustainability and many other topics related to shipping, port and logistics sectors.

The high-level event reinforces efforts to enhance Qatar role at the level of the global maritime transport map, in addition to supporting Ministry of Transport and Communications’ strategic plan aimed to transform Qatar into a vibrant regional commercial and logistical hub. The Ministry seeks to promote Qatar’s ports and logistics sectors to keep pace with growth and benefit from global experiences in these fields, strengthening Qatar's position on the global maritime transport map, as well as boosting Hamad Port's commercial share in the region and the world, especially after the great success it has achieved within a short period of operation.

In its first edition, the Qatar Maritime and Logistics Summit will focus on the challenges that the maritime transport, port and logistics sectors facing between 2020 and 2030. With a focus on transportation, the summit will establish expectations for a logistics sector in transition, and a realignment of maritime with these expectations. The next decade is likely to see a closer alignment of the maritime and logistics sectors. This alignment will coincide with two trends of global significance that will increasingly shape the decisions we take about investment in the infrastructure needed to keep maritime and logistics businesses active. These trends are, firstly, a deeper concern for sustainability — most obviously in the need to protect a vulnerable environment — and, second, a keener perception of the impact of next-generation technologies on the world of work, particularly related to transportation.

The QMLS 2020 will include 15 topics spread across 4 sessions, all scheduled with high-level networking and interaction, identifying which trends are likely to have the greatest impact on transportation in the Middle East region and world-wide, and how swiftly we will need to act on these trends to stay in business. 

The summit’s first Session addressed Financing maritime and logistics 2020-2030 and the Supply chain in a changing world. Under the title of “Liquefied Gas Transport in Transition”, the second session discussed Global trade trends in 2020-30, Changing world trade patterns and their impact on maritime and logistics, Sustainability in LNG shipping, Safety in the LNG supply chain 2020-30, Sustainability and the supply chain in 2020-2030. The Session 3 featured topics about Liner shipping between 2020 and 2030 and how port businesses are a critical node in the transport network and in the final session, experts have discussed supply chains and shipping in the age of change and safety 2020-2030.

The findings will be drawn together to build an understanding of how global transport hubs will evolve throughout the 2020s.  The summit will conclude on Wednesday 19 February 2020 with a field tour in Hamad Port, were the participants will have the opportunity to explore port’s facilities, stages of development and the cutting-edge technology that port has features, and by setting the agenda for the next Qatar Maritime and Logistic Summit.