QATAR SHIPPING COMPANY Q.S.C

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It gives me great pleasure to welcome you personally as well on behalf of the Board of Directors and present the 16 th Annual General Report of Qatar Shipping Company for the year ended 31 st December, 2008.

During the financial year 2008 Q Ship earned a handsome profit of QR 528.62 Million which was the second highest in its history. The profit has fallen from a record level in 2007 partly due to a fall in the investment income. But at the operating level the profits have been higher and Q Ship has shown improvement in all segments.

One of the key ingredients of Q Ship’s strategy has been the sale of ships and in a three years period 2006 – 2008, 6 ships (including 50% share in two Joint Ventures ships) have been sold. This strategy has yielded handsome dividends for Q Ship by way of very good profits. But these ships were sold anticipating a sharp fall in assets values. Ships sold can be bought back at about 60% of the price at which they were sold and ship prices still continue to fall. Another element of Q Ship’s strategy has been long term time charters. This strategy has also paid rich dividends as the current spot rates are much lower than the time charter earnings. So Q Ship continues to do well when many other shipping companies have been adversely impacted.

I would like to mention that Q Ship has exploited the available opportunities to add value to shareholders and would continue to do so in future.

Keeping in view the continued commitment towards our shareholders and in addition to expansion financial requirements, the Board of Directors recommends to your esteemed Assembly to distribute a total dividend of QR 385 million as cash dividends representing 35% of the share capital (i.e. 3.5 per share).

On behalf of the shareholders members of the Board and company management, I take this opportunity to express our deepest respect and profound gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, to His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Heir Apparent and to His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani, the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, for their continued guidance and patronage.

We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to QP, represented by H.E. Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Energy and Industry, for the support to our company. We would also like to extend our thanks and appreciation to the shareholders for their support to the company and the management and staff of the company, for their loyal and dedicated support.

Salem Bin Butti Al-Naimi

Chairman & Managing Director