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Kandla Dammam Express to be a weekly feeder service
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 India and Saudi Arabia.
The frequency of this first-of-its-kind service will be weekly and it will connect the port of Kandla directly with Jebel Ali in Dubai, and Dammam and Jubail in Saudi Arabia.
Commenting on the launch of the new service, Milaha’s President and CEO, Mr Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai, said: “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. After careful evaluation of trade patterns and feedback from our very supportive customers and partners, we decided to launch this service especially since a large proportion of agricultural produce cargo to Dammam is exported through the ports in Gujarat. 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 Indian Subcontinent and the Gulf.”
The service, named KDX (Kandla Dammam Express), will provide rice exporters in North India with a cost-effective solution for their supply chain as KICT will provide a direct train link between Northern India’s inland container depots and the container terminal. In addition, due to the call in Jubail, petrochemicals importers in India will have the advantage of connecting their cargo through to any North Indian inland container depot from Kandla.
The weekly service will be operated with 2 vessels and will have the following rotation with a 14-day round-trip voyage:
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.
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