Qatar Shipping Company

Qatar Shipping Company (Q Ship) was established in December 1992 and started commercial operations in February 1994. In April 2010, Qatar Shipping Company was fully acquired by Qatar Navigation and is now a fully owned subsidiary of Qatar Navigation. Until April 2010, the Company was listed on the Qatar Exchange and it’s erstwhile major shareholders were Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Navigation holding about 18% and 15% respectively and the remaining shares were widely held with about 40% by individuals and about 27% by other companies and establishments. In addition to the statutory ISM Code requirements, Q Ship is certified to Quality Management (ISO 9001:2008), Environment Management (ISO 14001:2004) and Occupational Health & Safety Management (OSHAS 18001:2007) standards.

 

The Company’s Head Office is in Doha, Qatar from where the corporate and ship management services are carried out. In 2008, the Company set up “Qatar Shipping Company (India) Pvt. Ltd” in Mumbai, India primarily to improve the quality of the officers and crew recruited for Q Ship’s vessels.

Qatar Shipping Company acquired its first vessel in 1994 and has done all commercial operations since then from Doha. The company commenced technical management of its fleet in 1999 with its team in Doha. The company presently owns and manages a fleet of seven vessels comprising two Handysize product/chemical tankers, three aframax tankers, amongst which two are fully coated and have carried clean petroleum products, and two LPG/Ammonia vessels. All the vessels trade internationally and, besides local clients like Qatar Petroleum and its subsidiaries, Qatar Fertiliser Company and Qatar Steel Company, Q Ship’s clients include all the major oil and gas companies and leading international trading companies. During the period 1994 to 2003, Q Ship also owned and operated two Oil/Bulk/Ore (OBO) vessels, which traded in crude oil, iron ore and coal cargoes.  All the vessels currently owned and operated by Q Ship have been ordered by Q Ship as newbuildings, with the site supervision also done for most of them by the Q Ship site team. Four of the company’s newbuildings together with the older tonnage acquired during the formative years of the company have been systematically phased out at an opportune time. New ventures as well as asset play have enabled us to add significant value to our shareholders. 

From 1999 onwards Q Ship has executed the Qatar Petroleum (QP) contract of providing Harbour Towage, Pilot Boat services and Mooring Crew at Mesaieed port with four fully owned Tugs, two inchartered Tugs and three fully owned Pilot boats. This ten year contract was completed in October 2009 and thereafter the contract has been extended. Under another ten year contract with Qatar Petroleum (QP) at Halul Island Terminal, Q Ship operates a fully owned tug which is deployed as a tanker berthing assistance tug.

Q Ship has ownership stakes ranging from 15% to 29.4% in nine LNG carriers and the other stakeholders are MOL, K Line, NYK, SCI and Maersk. All these ships are managed by the JV partners and are engaged on long term time charter contracts.

Q Ship is a founder shareholder with a 15% stake in Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat), which was formed as an integral part of the LNG supply chain for the State of Qatar.

Q Ship is also a partner with Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) in a 50:50 Joint Venture company “Gulf LPG Transport Company WLL”, which was formed in April 2008 primarily for owning and operating four Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs).